-
5-YEAR STRATEGIC PLANAs St. Stephen Protomartyr Catholic School embarks on its second century of operation, we want a truly sustainable, values-based Catholic school: one that offers a high-quality education and competitive programming at a workable price; that increasingly has an economically and racially diverse and inclusive student body; and that builds an active community of families across our new and expanded parish boundaries.
This plan is a thorough blueprint for accomplishing that vision and ensuring that our school will be a thriving, welcoming, and vibrant center of learning for South St. Louis families for decades to come. -
-
Redirecting to here.
Esta página en español (Spanish)
Trang này bằng tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
Why do we need a strategic plan now?
In recent years the Archdiocese of St. Louis has experienced significant restructuring of its parishes and schools. In the spring of 2023, the All Things New initiative resulted in a newly imagined St. Stephen Protomartyr Parish, combining its people and resources with those of the former St. John the Baptist and Immaculate Heart of Mary parishes.
This fall the Archdiocese informed the St. Stephen Protomartyr Board of Education that we officially have the reins to create a local plan to secure our school’s future; the Board jumped on this opportunity. We know many families feel anxious and confused after so much change across our Archdiocese. Our families deserve transparency, and our school needs a clear path forward.
Now that we know the shape of our parish and have the green light from the Archdiocese, our strategic plan aims to address two key challenges: building enrollment and reducing our deficit.
Over the last several years SSP School has experienced a slow but steady enrollment decline which has resulted in an increasing annual deficit. We are pleased to report that the SSP Parish Finance Council has agreed to commit considerable financial support to our school over the next five years to help face these challenges. This commitment will ensure that our school can continue operating in the near term and will give us the time and resources to implement the changes outlined in this strategic plan for our long-term success.
The Board deeply appreciates that we here at SSP already have so much to build on:- A wonderful community of dedicated teachers, staff, parents, parishioners, alumni, and neighbors
- A beautiful and secure school facility, with new room for growth across our three campuses
- A century of experience providing quality education
This Five-Year Strategic Plan offers clear steps to capitalize on these strengths while rising to meet our challenges of enrollment and funding.
-
-
What's the Plan?
-
Standing Committees
- Marketing Committee
- Education Committee
- Finance Committee
- Facilities Committee
-
Growing Enrollment
- Develop long-term marketing strategy
- Pilot summer camps and summer Pre-K
- Pilot 2-year-old early childhood program
- New Family Scholarships
- Ambassador Scholarships / Referrals
-
Financial Sustainability
- Tuition rates for 2024-25
- Msgr. Bommarito Scholarship Fund
- Multi-Child Families' Scholarship Aid
- Parish Commitment to School
-
-
-
Keep scrolling for more details.
-
-
Standing CommitteesOne of the first actions taken by the Board this year was to establish four standing committees: Marketing, Education, Finance, and Facilities. We have recruited individuals from our community with expertise in these areas to serve on these committees alongside Board members. The standing committees will process the feedback from the Community Listening Session in September and the 100-plus responses to our Community Survey. They will be essential in supporting the implementation of the programs and outreach envisioned in this Plan. After all, a strategic plan cannot succeed without the people and mechanisms in place to put ideas into practice.
If you have a background relevant to the work of these committees, please reach out to a member of the Board. We will be looking to develop working groups over the next several weeks to support the efforts of these committees. -
STANDING COMMITTEE membership
-
Marketing
CHAIR: Michael Dauphin (BOE)
CHAIR: Phil Cervantes (BOE)
EX-OFICIO: Maria Howe (BOE)
Ryan Hanlon
Abby Richter
Patrick Henseler
Stephanie Wobbe
-
education
CHAIR: Dr. Maria Howe (BOE)
Cathy Drury (BOE)
Greg Sturgill
Mary Ann Buschmann
Brandon Carter
Stephanie Minor
Dr. Meghan Bohac
-
Finance
CHAIR: Jason Chierek (BOE)
Heather Indelicato (BOE)
Ed Kuehner (BOE)
Will Hartzler
-
Facilities
CHAIR: Angie McMahon (BOE)
Eric McMahon
Jason Joly
Colleen Nigro
-
-
Efforts to Grow EnrollmentMaintaining a healthy enrollment is critical to a small private school’s sustainability and success. From tuition dollars to PTO officers to room parents to coaches, our families do so much to make our school work. Based on current capacity at the St. Stephen's Wilmington campus alone, we could accommodate a school enrollment of around 250 students. In the last decade, we have fallen short of that capacity. Since 2015, our enrollment in K-8th grade has dropped from 238 to 167 -- a nearly 30% decline.
A central objective of this Plan is to grow enrollment. The Board proposes the following measures to accomplish that growth: a marketing campaign; new early childhood and summer programming to retain and recruit families; financial incentives via scholarships to new families; a referral program; and ongoing committee work to promote internal improvements. -
-
LONG-TERM marketing STRATEGY
A recurring theme at the Community Listening Session and in the Community Survey responses was that SSP would benefit from expanding its marketing efforts. The standing Marketing Committee will be investigating some of the ideas you shared, working to make sure families across our new parish boundaries and beyond know about all of the wonderful things we offer at SSP. We are especially excited to share that Ryan Hanlon and his company Route 3 Films have offered to volunteer their services to generate updated marketing materials for our school. The Marketing Committee anticipates a monthly release of new promotional material starting January 2024.
COMING UP
- Search for volunteers to implement marketing strategy
- Release promotional material monthly during 2024
-
-
-
Summer camps & summer pre-K
Parishioners and school parents have routinely expressed the need for and interest in childcare for younger children and summer programming for children in kindergarten through second grade. Single-parent families and those with two working parents struggle to find childcare generally, and particularly childcare that covers full working days across the entire summer period, in a safe and familiar environment close to home. On that basis, we hope that developing such programs will help SSP attract new families to the school and retain them through eighth grade. Early childhood and summer programming would also provide the school additional sources of revenue to help cover the fixed costs of maintaining school/parish facilities. SSP would engage in these endeavors from a position of relative strength.
The State of Missouri exempts religious institutions from most childcare facility regulations -- specific staffing ratios, background checks, etc. -- giving SSP a cost advantage over proprietary vendors. Additional market advantages include SSP’s proven track record of quality preschool programming and related institutional knowledge; existing facilities and equipment; the present base of parish/school families; and the significant startup capital contributed by the parish. While SSP would launch these programs from a strong footing, we would certainly also encounter some significant challenges. Staffing represents the primary obstacle to creating and successfully operating new childcare programs. Summer camps and childcare facilities large and small struggle to hire and retain adequate qualified staff. The wage costs of robust staffing often overwhelm the already-thin operating margins of operators in less-affluent markets, particularly if they choose not to accept public subsidy via the Missouri Child Care Subsidy program, participation in which would require SSP to meet the licensure standards of a for-profit vendor. The Board and school/parish leadership will need to carefully consider, among other things, whether to participate in the subsidy program as part of SSP’s overall approach to tuition and financial aid for school families. In either case, SSP may find it challenging to recruit and retain adequate staff without jeopardizing fiscal health.
Curriculum and programming represent additional challenges. Extending the regular preschool curriculum through the summer months appears fairly straightforward, but creating a new, market-competitive summer camp offering may present some difficulty, particularly given the relatively strong local competition from the Carondelet YMCA and Concordia Turners summer camp programs, both of which offer outdoor aquatic programming inaccessible to SSP. Some creativity will be required to ensure a robust set of activities attractive to kids. A summer-long equivalent of school recess on the playground may not generate the enrollment revenue needed to cover costs.
Having considered the potential benefits, likely costs, and expected challenges, the Board and parish/school leadership has decided to pursue limited summer programming in 2024. That will include a pilot summer preschool program open to children eligible for preschool in the 2023-24 school year and a pilot summer camp program open to children that were eligible for kindergarten through second grade in 2023-24. These programs will be open to all children, regardless of whether they attended SSP during the 2023-24 school year. Beginning with the 2025-26 school year, SSP will also commence a pilot early-childhood program open to children aged two and three.COMING UP
- Recruit additional staff and establish tuition rates in early 2024
- Open enrollment in April 2024
- Kick off summer camp and summer preschool in June 2024
- Pilot early-childhood program for 2-year-olds in fall 2025
-
-
New-Family ScholarshipS
-
Another step we will take to grow our enrollment is establishing a scholarship program for families new to our school. We know that Catholic education involves sacrifice, and we know that when people take the step of belonging to our school community, they quickly see that the sacrifice is worth it. Over and over, people who were on the fence before they joined SSP School become people who would not think of sending their kids anywhere else. Beginning with enrollment for the 2024-25 academic year, we will help families take the step of enrolling for their first year at SSP School by offering every family enrolling children in our K-8 school for the first time a one-year scholarship of $1,000 per family. We are confident that if they spend one year with us, they will see the value our school provides, and will decide to stay. Plus, after their first year with us, they will be eligible for aid from the Monsignor Vince Bommarito Scholarship Fund described below.
COMING UP
- Develop online scholarship calculator tool
- Update FACTS online registration
-
-
-
AMBASSADOR SCHOLARSHIPS & REFERRALs
We know that our best ambassadors to introduce SSP School to new families are our existing school families. Beginning with enrollment for the 2024-25 school year, we’ll offer an incentive and an expression of gratitude to existing and past school families who help great new families find our school. When a family enrolls children in our K-8 school for the first time, we’ll ask the family if someone helped them become part of our school community. If they name someone from a current or past school family, we’ll give that family a one-time $500 scholarship applicable to tuition at SSP School. We’ll give a family this scholarship for each new family that names them; if a new family names people from several families as ambassadors who helped them, we’ll divide the $500 scholarship among all the families named. Additionally, since families whose children have all graduated from SSP School could be some of our best ambassadors, we’ll also allow families to apply any Ambassador Scholarships they receive to tuition for Catholic high schools if they no longer have children at SSP School.
COMING UP
- Update FACTS online registration to include questions about referrals
-
-
-
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE WORK
In addition to the marketing campaign, pilot programs starting in Summer 2024, and the financial incentives to recruit new families outlined above, the Board standing committees on Education and Facilities will also be working to help increase enrollment patterns. Feedback from the community highlighted the need for SSP School to stay competitive academically and in terms of the programming and resources we offer.
The Education Committee will be working with principal Greg Sturgill and faculty to ensure that our curriculum is effective, that the newly commenced Self-Improvement Process (SIP) is fruitful, and that our teachers and staff have the support they need. This committee will also be investigating ways that SSP School could collaborate with neighboring schools and groups to expand the services, extracurriculars, and after-school activities we offer to both retain and attract families.
The Facilities Committee will be focused on assessing the status of school buildings across our three campuses and identifying creative ways to use these spaces to ensure we are being effective and efficient with our facilities.
-
-
Financial SustainabilityThe third prong of our strategic plan involves efforts directly tied to securing our school's financial sustainability. While increasing enrollment will help improve our finances, we need to take additional direct measures to ensure we have sufficient funds to keep our school open and thriving. Working together, the parish Finance Council and the Board of Education have committed to the following: the creation of a new scholarship fund to help lower-income families; adjustments to our multi-child tuition rates; financial support in the amount of $1,000,000 from our parish savings, earmarked for school sustainability; and work by the Finance Committee to secure additional fundraising opportunities. -
-
MONSIGNOR Vince Bommarito Scholarship Fund
Our first initiative to make our school financially sustainable and affordable to our families is a new scholarship fund: the Monsignor Vince Bommarito Scholarship Fund. The Monsignor Vince Bommarito Scholarship Fund will help lower-income families already enrolled in our school afford the cost of Catholic education. From the assets in the fund, we will distribute additional aid to some of the current K-8 school families who qualify for need-based scholarships from the Archdiocese’s Today & Tomorrow Educational Foundation.
Our parish will make an initial contribution of $100,000 to the Monsignor Vince Bomarrito Scholarship Fund. We are taking the money from the proceeds of the sale of the Sts. Mary and Joseph campus. Our St. Stephen Protomartyr Golf Tournament decided to add their own contribution of $25,000 to the scholarship fund and to commit half of their future fundraising to the scholarship fund. Many thanks to them for their leadership! We hope others will join us, too, so that we can refill and grow the scholarship fund year by year as it helps families afford Catholic education. If a family makes a donation to the Monsignor Vince Bommarito Scholarship Fund in honor of a loved one, we will acknowledge their loved one whenever we use the donation to fund a scholarship.
Starting in the 2024-25 school year, we plan to distribute the initial contributions from the parish and from the Golf Tournament over four years: that means an additional $30,000 in tuition assistance for families currently enrolled in our school.
We decided to name this fund after Monsignor Vince Bommarito in honor of his many years of service to Catholic education and acknowledgement for how his leadership helped us identify the need for the fund and to secure its first source of funding.
COMING UP
- Develop online scholarship calculator tool
- Update FACTS online registration
-
-
-
K-8 SCHOLARSHIPS FOR MULTI-CHILD FAMILIES
As we seek a sustainable parish school, we decided on a significant tuition increase for families with two or more children in our school to better reflect the actual cost to educate each student. Our 2024-25 tuition rates are below. At the same time, we know that affording Catholic education becomes particularly difficult when families want to enroll more than one child in SSP School at the same time. Starting in the 2024-25 school year, we will offer a renewable $1,000 scholarship to each family with two or more children enrolled in K-8 at our school whose household income is $120,000 or less. In future years, we’ll consider whether additional scholarships like this are needed to keep SSP School affordable for families with multiple children enrolled.
COMING UP
- Develop online scholarship calculator tool
- Update FACTS online registration
-
-
-
K-8 Tuition
2024-251 child $7,980 2 children $12,080 3 or more children $14,280 Note 1: Starting in the 2024-25 school year, our tuition is the total cost to your family. We have eliminated our registration fee and our technology fee.
Note 2: We will require a $150 tuition deposit per child at the time of registration, which will be applied to total tuition due.Note 3: Families paying in single annual payment or two semiannual payments will receive a 2% discount of tuition for the 2024-25 school year. We are considering eliminating this discount for the 2025-26 school year.
-
Preschool Tuition
2024-253 half days per week $4,015 3 full days per week $6,900 4 half days per week $4,305 4 full days per week $7,365 5 half days per week $4,880 5 full days per week $8,350 Note 1: Starting in the 2024-25 school year, our preschool tuition is the total cost to your family. We have eliminated the registration fee.
Note 2: We will require a $150 tuition deposit per child at the time of registration, which will be applied to the total tuition.
Note 3: Scholarships and discounts are not applicable to preshool tuition.
-
-
-
Thanks to our scholarships, many of our families will see only a small or moderate increase in their costs; some families may see their total costs decrease. Some examples:
Family A:
One Child in K-82023-24 Costs 2024-25 Costs Tuition $7,325 Tuition $7,980 Fees $500 Fees $0 Total Cost $7,825 Total Cost $7,980 % change 1.8%
-
Family B:
Two Children in K-8
(Income < $120,000)2023-24 Costs 2024-25 Costs Tuition $9,780 Tuition $12,080 Fees $1,000 Fees $0 Multi-child
Scholarship-$1,000 Total Cost $10,780 Total Cost* $11,080 % change 2.7% * Before Archdiocesan Today & Tomorrow Education Fund (TTEF) scholarship. At SSP School, 53 of 111 K-8 families received a TTEF scholarship in 2023-24, with a median award of $1,750. In 2024-25, from the newly established SSP scholarship fund, we expect to give an additional scholarship to more than 90% of current families receiving TTEF scholarships, with a median additional award of $500.
-
-
-
Parish Commitment to the school's future
We believe that this strategic plan gives SSP School a path to become sustainable and affordable for decades to come. We also recognize that our school currently runs a large operational deficit, and that it will take time for the good ideas in this strategic plan and the good efforts of our school community to reach that sustainable future. Accordingly, the combined parish Finance Council has agreed that it would be worth drawing down our parish reserves by up to $1,000,000 over the next five years if it lets us reach a sustainable future for our school.
The value for our parish that justifies the expenditure of $1,000,000 from our savings comes through a sustainable school, one that will be here for decades to come. The Finance Council made it clear that the same value would not be present if it were a question of simply keeping the school open for a few more years. Accordingly, our school community will need to show progress towards sustainability in order to continue to access the $1,000,000 designated by the Finance Council for support of the school strategic plan over the next five years.
The Finance Council and the Board of Education agreed that it would be fair to evaluate our progress by considering each year the change in our school’s K-8 enrollment and the progress in reducing our deficit. Our parish’s $1,000,000 commitment to the school gives us the time and resources we need to grow our enrollment and make even better the Catholic education we provide to the children of our parish and our larger South St. Louis community.
-
-
-
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE WORK
The Board realizes that our school is one of the biggest ministries of our parish. That ministry also requires signficiant amount of time, talent, and treasure to achieve the mission of creating new disciples.
The Finance Standing Committee has begun to work with the parish Finance Council to explore opportunities for increasing donations to our school. This combined group will work on leveraging and maximizing return from current fundraisers as well as exploring opportunities for new sources of funding to the school. A large component of this effort will be a capital campaign to align with our school's 100th anniversary in 2027.
-
-
Call to ActionAs a Board of Education, we have invested our time in developing this strategic plan because we believe SSP School matters for our children, matters for our community, and matters for our parish. Our school is a ministry of the whole parish and an important component of our mission: “Love God. Love others. Make disciples.” We cannot achieve our goals by the efforts of the Board of Education alone. We need the help of others. We need your help. -
-
So we end this strategic plan with a call to action. We ask our whole school community, our alumni, and everyone in our neighborhoods who sees the importance of our Catholic school to join us in this strategic plan. If you have gifts for marketing or education or finances or buildings, please consider offering your time to help on one of our four standing committees. If you have the ability to do so, consider making a gift to the Monsignor Vince Bommarito Scholarship Fund. Join with us in prayer, particularly in our worship on Sunday. Be an ambassador for our school, sharing with others the great work we have done for almost a century and our exciting new summer programs coming this year. If you are an alumnus and you are passionate about our school, we would love your help to plan our 100th anniversary celebration for 2027.
Most of all, if you see a way you can help our students meet Jesus and grow to their full potential, please step forward. We have people in our community, more numerous than we can name, who help the children in our school. Drs. David and Anne Borgmeyer teach our children music. Mrs. Angie Butz lets our teachers take time away to prepare and rest. Mr. Ryan Hanlon shows our 7th graders how to produce video. Mrs. Jeanne Kriss helps in our school office. For all the people offering our students their time, their talents, or their treasure, we are grateful; and we believe our community is blessed with many more people like them. If you see a way you could help, or if you have questions about this strategic plan, anyone on our Board of Education would be glad to talk with you.
St. Stephen Protomartyr, pray for us! St. John the Baptist, pray for us! Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
COMING UP
- Publicize tuition rates and details of summer programs on January 26, 2024
- The Board will present a report on strategic plan progress in September 2024
-
-
-
AD HOC STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE
Steve Bernstetter ([email protected])
Director of compliance for healthcare firm, with masters in public policy. Parishioner, soccer coach, and school dad of three.
Jason Chierek ([email protected] or 314-791-0824)
CPA providing financial reporting and forecasting to executive leadership. Parishioner, cubmaster, and school dad of three.
Will Hartzler ([email protected] or 314-749-1767)
Wealth management advisor. Member of parish Finance Council, SSP alumnus, parishioner, and school dad of two.
Dr. Maria Howe ([email protected])
Consulting attorney; teaches American history to college students. President of Board of Education, parishioner, and school mom of one.
Rev. Aaron Nord ([email protected] or 314-481-1133, x309)
Pastor of St. Stephen Protomartyr Parish. Adjutant judicial vicar for the Metropolitan Tribunal. Brother of five.
D. Greg Sturgill ([email protected] or 314-752-4700)
Principal of St. Stephen Protomartyr School. Dad of two, grandpa of four.
Stephanie Wobbe ([email protected] or 314-481-1133, x303)
Communication manager at St. Stephen Protomartyr. Parishioner, SSP alumna, former school mom of four.
-
