Mission Statement >>

Saint Bernard's Catholic School’s Mission is to provide the students with a safe, Christ-centered, Catholic environment, with an academically challenging curriculum and leadership-and character-building activities and sports.

St. Bernard’s Catholic School Vision
We envision a school with a diverse student population in preschool through 12th grade, where all of the students develop strong independent minds, effective leadership skills, and Christian characters of compassion, faith, and integrity.

In carrying out the School’s Mission, we will hold to the following values:
1. We will keep and live our Catholic Faith;
2. We will support and honor ethics both in leadership and in service;
3. We will encourage involvement and participation in community;
4. We will teach and practice sustainability of resources; and
5. We will relate to each other with respect, and honor the individuality of each student.

St. Bernard’s Catholic School Goals
Goal #1: To operate and be clearly identified as a Catholic educational institution (our Catholic identity).

Goal #2: To graduate students who are prepared for college, who think independently and critically, and who are responsible (our specialty).

Goal #3: To provide a solid liberal arts curriculum that is strong in math and science, and complemented with the traditional co-curricular visual and theatrical art courses and extra-curricular athletic programs (our curriculum).

Goal #4: To provide state-of-the-art technology in both the education of the students and the operation of the School (our technology).

Goal #5: To provide student support services that are relevant, accessible, and useful for each student (our student services).

Goal #6: To provide a staff of qualified employees who are committed to the School’s Vision, Mission, and Values (our staff).

Goal #7: To provide facilities and an environment that will always be safe, comfortable and functional for the students (our facilities).

Goal #8: To govern the School with clear and consistent policies, with honor and recognition of the roles of each and every participant, and with real and open opportunity for input by all the participants (our governance).

Goal #9: To secure the resources necessary to perpetuate the School (our resources).

Goal #10: To always be a valuable, reliable, and respectable presence in the community (our community relations).


OUR CATHOLIC IDENTITY

Goal:
To operate and be clearly identified as a Catholic educational institution. Strategies: To accomplish this Goal, we will:

A. Incorporate and reference the Magisterium of the Church as the foundation of the principles by which the School’s affairs and services will be conducted.

B. Keep a Campus Ministry in the School, charged with keeping the students – along with the faculty, parents, alumni, and supporters – involved in School worship services, retreats, and Christian service projects.

C. Establish and maintain in each local Parish a Friends of St. Bernard’s Catholic School club dedicated and committed to keeping the School as a visual and valuable presence in the local Catholic community.

D. Keep an Advisory Priest as an ex-officio School Board member to connect the Board with the Trust and the Diocese, and to work with the Board to formulate, champion, and monitor policies and programs that will keep the School as Catholic.


OUR SPECIALTY

Goal:
To graduate students who are prepared for college, who think independently and critically, and who are responsible.

Strategies: To accomplish this Goal, we will:

A. Develop and maintain individual Student Service Plans with the priority that whatever it takes and whatever his/her plans are for beyond school, each student is information literate, has research and study skills appropriate for higher education, and is being optimally and individually supported to do his/her best.

B. Create and maintain a Performance Audit Program to sustain communication with the students at all grades and levels – and the faculty, parents, and graduates – and, with assistance from the Diocese, evaluate the School’s services and determine what it is we do that we should stop doing, or should do more of or better at, and what is it that others do that we might want to start doing.

C. Assign a Publications Audit Committee to annually review the School’s text and work-books, testing and counseling materials, and other educational tools – and the School‘s ongoing needs for updates or replacements – and plan a schedule and cost projection for distributed replacement of these materials annually, triennially and sexennially.

D. Require a Course Syllabus from every teacher, and acknowledgement of the syllabi by all parents and students.

E. Enlist a qualified, charitable Library Foundation entity to which the School can delegate the funding, development, maintenance, and operation of a library for the two schools.

F. Enlist business patrons in a Community Outreach Program to establish and maintain relationships with local businesses, colleges, and other entities that provide training opportunities for students and work opportunities for graduates.

G. Provide and require the use of PSAT/SAT Workshops

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OUR CURRICULUM

Goal:
To provide a solid liberal arts curriculum that is strong in math and science, and complemented with the traditional co-curricular visual and theatrical art courses and extra-curricular athletic programs.

Strategies: To accomplish this Goal, we will:

A. Focus on Student Multiple Intelligences, and match “department, course, and unit” outcomes to the School-wide Learning Expectations (SLE’s) outcomes as a way to assess achievement of SLE’s.

B. Prioritize for the Study Hall Program, academic support for students falling below School-wide Learning Expectations established for the students.

C. Enlist a qualified, charitable Arts Foundation entity to sponsor the funding of the School’s co-curricular fine and performing art programs; and restrict the donated funds to be used only for hiring and supporting adjunct faculty for the co-curricular programs.

D. Enlist the Crusader’s Athletic Board to take full responsibility for the funding of a complete, traditional athletic program for participation by all students.

OUR TECHNOLOGY

Goal:
To provide state-of-the-art technology in both the education of the students and the operation of the School.

Strategies: To accomplish this Goal, we will:

A. Enlist business patrons as Technology Partners to provide technological resources for all students and staff, and keep the School’s technological resources at state-of-the-art levels of technology.

B. Prioritize for Technical Application into the daily routine of work and study at the School, and establish and maintain a central multi-media room for use by both employees and students of the School.

C. Secure an IT Technician to maintain instructional technology and provide instructional assistance and systems support to all staff.

D. Provide all students, faculty, administrators, and directors with Technological Training and Support to use the technological resources effectively and creatively.


OUR STUDENT SERVICES

Goal:
To provide student support services that are relevant, accessible, and useful for each student.

Strategies: To accomplish this Goal, we will:

A. Establish in the Student Service Plans individual schedules for academic, college, and career counseling; procedures for curriculum development, evaluation, and implementation; and links with his/her curriculum and evaluation.

B. Provide a Conflict Resolution Structure.

C. Adopt and utilize Best Grading Practices that honor individual student achievements.

D. Provide Teacher/Student/Parent Conferences standards and training for keeping an informed and honest overview of what is going on in the School and how effectively each student is being supported by the School and by the parents to do his/her best.

OUR STAFF

Goal:
To provide a staff of qualified employees who are committed to the School’s Mission, Vision, and Values.

Strategies: To accomplish this Goal, we will:

A. Provide Professional Growth Opportunities for all employees via teacher-inservices, workshops and seminars, and continued education.

B. Develop and maintain a standard Recruitment and Interview Process for hiring qualified teachers and staff.

C. Establish general Job Descriptions and Standards for all employees, and repeat them in teacher and staff contracts, handbooks, and performance evaluations.

D. Provide Competitive Salaries and Benefits.

E. Provide a Mentor Program for teachers and coaches.


OUR FACILITIES

Goal:
To provide facilities and an environment that will always be safe, comfortable and functional for the students.

Strategies: To accomplish this Goal, we will:

A. Develop and maintain an Emergency Response Plan for the safety and protection

B. Develop and maintain a deferred and regular Facilities Maintenance Plan listing and prioritizing areas that need work.

C. Replace the high school campus boiler with a more Efficient Heating System.

D. Pursue Capital Improvement Funding through private funds and foundation
research.


OUR GOVERNANCE

Goal:
To govern the School with clear and consistent policies, with honor and recognition of the roles of each and every participant, and with real and open opportunity for input by all the participants.

Strategies: To accomplish this Goal, we will:

A. Continually review and stay focused on and committed to the School’s Vision, Mission and Values.

B. Establish and use Board Development Protocol for Board composition, recruitment, orientation, continual training, and retention.

C. Develop a Policies Manual to document and communicate clearly all expectations to all participants, and apply and enforce school rules and policies consistently and firmly.

D. Maintain and monitor Budgets and Finances in accordance with best accounting standards.

E. Review and incorporate the WASC/WCEA recommendations set forth in the WASC/WCEA Focus on Learning Self-Study 2004.

F. Provide for and encourage Faculty, Parent, and Student Input at Board meetings.

G. Establish a School Trust to manage the corpus funds of the monies and properties endowed to the School.

OUR RESOURCES

Goal:
To secure the resources necessary to perpetuate the School.

Strategies: To accomplish this Goal, we will:

A. Establish a comprehensive Financial Business Plan to ensure the solvency of the School by (1) bringing current all debts owed by the School, and all debts owed to the School; (2) creating a “user based” structure to support the operations of the School without subsidies other than tuitions, fees, and third-source revenues; (3) expanding the boarding facilities for non-local, resident students; and (4) utilizing “best cost-effective practices” for School improvements and purchases.

B. Work with all local parishes and participating churches and synagogues to fund the Financial Aid Program helping families in need of financial assistance.

C. Develop a comprehensive Development Plan for meeting budgeted targets for third-source revenues, utilizing the time, talents, and monies donated by the School’s parents, alumni, and friends.

D. Establish and develop an Endowment Fund to be invested and dedicated for the advancement and improvement of the School.

E. Revise and maintain an Enrollment Strategy, which addresses recruitment, admission, and retention strategies.


OUR RELATIONS WITH THE COMMUNITY

Goal:
To always be a valuable, reliable, and respectable presence in the community.

Strategies: To accomplish this Goal, we will:

A. Develop and implement a Marketing Plan to meet the needs of our customer (the parents of the students) and increase media exposure of school successes through student and faculty accomplishments and events.

B. Develop, use and maintain an effective Communications Plan to increase involvement of the wider community in the life of the school; to celebrate the School and the School’s Alumni, supporters, academics, athletics, activities, traditions, and history; and to share the School’s Mission, Vision, and Values to all school groups and participants, including the community.