We chose this model to offer a viable option to every family. We are a premier educational institution that meets the spiritual, academic, social and emotional needs of our children - We expect to continue to provide opportunities for our system to GROW to meet the demands of our children and community. Offering two different middle school curriculums allows RCS to have multiple teaching/learning styles in both traditional and self-directed classrooms. The Middle School model will allow us to provide more opportunity to

• focus on adolescence
• work with the right strategies for academic, physical, social and emotional needs
• identify more deeply each students unique needs, skill sets, and knowledge base
• we can prepare for High School earlier
• students can gain deeper understanding of content, organizational and study skills, faith
• teacher content knowledge is more focused
• provides opportunity for community building skills for students
• opportunity to increase STEM activities
• opportunity to enhance math and science curriculum"
• opportunity to for students to build stronger social bonds with students who have similar interest
• opportunity for Middle School students to further discover their own personalities

Continuing to have a K-8 options allows families and students to have that

• Sense of community and family environment
• Stay longer with the classmates you know really well and enjoy smaller class groups

Moving Forward: Academic growth vision

• St. John would become the premier state of the art middle school with cutting edge technology, robust academics, enhanced community activities and social clubs, athletics, fine arts opportunities
• We would like to partner with St. Mary Univ., Univ. MN - Rochester, Mayo Clinic, IBM, etc. to offer optional programs
• Partner with Mayo Clinic/DMC partnership to cultivate skilled labor for future employment opportunities and expose students to real world jobs
• St. John to partner with Parishes to integrate youth religious education programs to help middle school youth mature as disciples of Christ
• St. Pius and Holy Spirit to double growth of students in preschool and childcare
• LHS 2nd floor transforms to a state of the art innovation and technology center
• LHS offer college prep courses giving college credits, more AP offerings, and work-study programs for Social Justice

Financial Growth and Stability Opportunities:

• Increase child care enrollment
• Increase preschool enrollment
• Increase middle school enrollment
• Increase retention from middle school to high school
• Reduced risk of student withdraw with multiple school model offerings

Staffing needs are driven by enrollment and student needs.

A teacher’s teaching style can be very important to a child’s school success especially in the social/emotional domain. Teacher contracts are due by April.

Class size average is 18 but different grades can go up or down based on student needs.

We have no plans to stop any current traditions, such as the Amazing Spirit Race, and look forward to starting new traditions.

There is no direct increase in operational cost or in tuition based on this reconfiguration, across the board it will stay the same, but the finance council did meet and approve a normal yearly cost to do business increase.

The Principal of Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist/St. Pius X is Mr. Matt Langsdale and Amy Heimer is the Assistant Principal.

Busing is determined by boundaries. If a student lives in the St. John/St. Pius or Holy Spirit boundary area, they will receive busing to St. John’s as that is where the 6-8 school is for them. Students that reside in the St. Francis boundary will only be offered busing to St. Francis, as St. Francis has 6-8 offered to them at St. Francis. Students that open-enroll outside of their busing area are responsible for their own transportation.

• All students that are currently in the Holy Spirit busing area will get transportation to St. John's. Even if that student lives in Oronoco. So, basically the only students that would not get busing to St. John's are the students that live in the St. Francis busing area, but choose to attend St. John's.
• Holy Spirit will continue to be a transfer site. Siblings (that live at the same home) will get picked up at their normal bus stop together. Upon arriving at Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit student will exit the bus and the middle school student will get transported to St. John's.
• Start/end times
  • St. Francis Start/end time does not need to change
  • St. Pius Start time/end time does not need to change
  • Holy Spirit start/end time does not need to change
  • St. John's start/end time does need to change by 10 minutes (Needs to start 10 minutes later in the day). This will allow enough time to make the transfers to Holy Spirit.
• At this time, the bid that came back for the public transportation (city buses) was way higher than was expected. Jeff does not expect this to be a viable option for RPS. Which means that all of our students (K-12) will continue to be eligible for busing through the public schools.
• Families are able to register their daycare as the pick-up/drop off site. Families that live outside of the busing area (NE Rochester, Byron, Pine Island, for example) could add Holy Spirit, St. Pius, or any other address as their "daycare" and get busing from that site...parents would need to get them to the "daycare".

Not at this time.

Yes.

Not currently.

Jeff Kappers (RPS Transportation Manager) has verified that families can register a site (Holy Spirit specifically) for all students for daycare regardless of age.

At this point, the only option would be using a day care address that is on the SF boundary or exploring city bus routes.

Busing is determined by residence.

Mr. Kappers, ISD #535 Transportation, may have a better idea of the ride time from Holy Spirit to Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist after bus routes and neighborhood stops have been established. Students who traditionally walked to Holy Spirit will be picked up in areas that the bus company designates.

Middle school enrichment offerings will continue as currently offered at St. Francis. If the fine arts enrichment offerings are expanded - we will be looking to expand at both locations.

As long as there are openings at the school, families may transfer.

Students will use Summit Learning for the subjects of Math, Science, English/Language Arts, and Social Studies. Summit Learning is designed to meet students at their level while also allowing for students to reach a greater depth of understanding, thus challenging them if their level is more accelerated than others. With the components of mentoring, hands-on projects, and self-direction, the Summit Learning Experience is a personalized approach to teaching and learning to meet the needs and interest of each student. To learn more, click HERE.

A priority placement Enrollment Request Form has been sent to all incoming grade 6-8 students for the 2019-2020 school year. Parents may request either the Traditional (K-8 at St. Francis of Assisi) or Middle School (Grade 6-8 at Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist) model is best for their child. An enrollment acceptance will be sent to families in January 2019 to confirm placement. (Note: Bus transportation will only be available from Holy Spirit to Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. There will be no bus transportation from Holy Spirit to St. Francis of Assisi.)

Yes, but this will be determined by the family’s need for transportation. Students not living in the HS or STP/SJ boundary will NOT be transported to the Co-Cathedral. Likewise, students not living in the St. Francis boundary will not be transported to St. Francis.

When registration opens to the public, homeschool students are certainly welcome to register for all RCS program options.

RCS will continue to make changes to meet the needs of our community.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

There is the possibility of middle school students returning to their K-5 elementary schools to visit and engage in multi-age activities, but the formal 6th grade and kindergarten program will not continue as it has in the past.

Yes.

By the end of 8th grade, all RCS students should have mastered the same curriculum concepts. We may need to do some transitional work to meet the needs of each student.

Conversations are taking place about the timing and locations for sports practices. Currently, volleyball and Track & Field meet at St. John’s exclusively. We are looking at having more practices located at St. John’s.

Athletics will continue to be combined.

Social justice programs is in reference to emphasizing the themes of Catholic Social Teaching that inherently form the foundation of school service projects.

The core concepts to be mastered are the same. The elective opportunities may differ depending on the enrollment numbers (more kids=more opportunities).

There are families who desire a K-8 education and those who desire a middle school. By offering two options, we hope to better meet the needs of our families.

Matt Langsdale did not state that class sizes would be 30, 40, 50 kids. He said that with larger amounts of students in each grade level, there would be more opportunity for social development and other opportunities.

Wahlert Catholic High School and Mazzuchelli Middle School

The parish grant is awarded to families for all RCS schools. You do not need to attend the school directly connected to your parish to get the grant.

Yes.

St. John/St. Pius, like all schools, asks parents to volunteer. They have volunteers, and can always use more.

After school pick-up for activities will remain consistent with current procedures.

No impact. School assets and budgets are separate from the Diocese of Winona-Rochester.

Expectations of the students to follow directions. Supervision of staff members. Cooperation with parents.

Teachers will attend a 4 day training for Summit before the school year, and will be assigned a Summit Mentor, with monthly mentor meetings.

Yes. Principals are actively working to create opportunities for students to connect with each other.

Students that qualify for Special Education services receive those supports from 7:40 - 8:30 am at Kellogg. They are transported from their home to Kellogg for services & transported from Kellogg to St. John’s in time for 1st period. Services are determined by individual needs.

Students may be dropped off at Holy Spirit between 8:30 AM and 8:55 AM. Students may be picked up at Holy Spirit between 3:35 PM and 4:00 PM.

The school is open at 8:20 am for students to be dropped off, at no extra charge for Extended Care services. Doors opening at 8:20, with school starting at 8:45 (or 8:40/8:50 depending on the campus) allows for drop off at all locations.

Yes - for Math, Science, Social Studies, and English/Language Arts. RCS completed the initial steps for these content areas and was invited to apply to be a program participant. PE, Music, Religion, Spanish, etc will not use Summit.

Yes.

5th grade band will still be offered at St. Francis, Holy Spirit, and St. Pius. Christmas programs at St. Pius and Holy Spirit will feature K-5 students, while the St. John’s Christmas program will feature 6-7-8th grade students who attend St. John’s.

5th Grade at St. John’s will move to St. Pius.

Yes. Scheduled for Thursday’s in the 2019-20 School Year.

All Rochester priests are welcome on Campus. Fr. Loomis, Fr. Thompson, and Fr. Hoang currently celebrate Holy Spirit masses and visit Holy Spirit classrooms. They will be invited to do the same at St. John’s.

By continuing to speak positively, reassuringly to our parents and broader community. As details are fine tuned, information will be shared. Administration will continue to look at ways to involve various stakeholders in the successful implementation of reconfiguration.

The very nature and structure of the Summit Learning program addresses the needs of gifted and talented students.

Not initially. The priority will be on providing it for those who will be using the Summit Learning platform.

Probably not! This will be a priority as staffing criteria is developed.

Transition and bridge programs from 5th to 6th grade will need to become a part of what RCS does to help students adjust to school changes.

This is being developed.

This is not currently our practice, and would need to be researched before any commitment could be made.

The core concepts of curriculum mastery will be the same. If electives are offered as part of the curriculum, report cards may need to be adjusted to reflect the variances in programming at each school.

We will continue with Buddy Systems, but they may look different. We will have Buddy systems in each of the PreK-5 buildings, and will work to continue the bonds that the 6-8 students have developed with their previous campus.

Math, Science, Social Studies, English/Language Arts

The plan is for it to remain as is. Enrollment might dictate a need to change.

Genius Hour is currently in place at St. John. St. Francis is already in conversation about how we can implement either a class or an elective cycle that offers similar outcomes for our students. The Personalized Learning Team has begun laying out our work.

Yes.

The current intent is to offer similar programming.

All Diocese of Winona-Rochester schools utilize the same curricular objectives. Where Summit Learning differs is how the curriculum is taught while maintaining the integrity of what is taught.

Holy Spirit students who attend St. John’s or St. Francis will need to take life science as 8th graders next year. Administration is aware of this situation not only in science, but in social studies and religion as well.