The following is a report on the status of our Catalina United Methodist Day School, presented to the Administrative Board / Charge Conference on March 6, 2002. Many at that meeting thought all members of Catalina would enjoy hearing about our Day School.
     Highlighting & summarizing Statement of Purpose "The Day School... is a social service mission unit sponsored by CUMC; systematically related to the church, operating under the supervision of and in accordance with teachings and statement of mission of the United Methodist church.
     [The] purpose of this program is to provide families with quality, loving care in a safe, stimulating, learning environment, remaining faithful to the church's commitment to mission outreach.
     [The] program is designed to enhance children's physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and spiritual growth. This is accomplished by planned, developmentally appropriate activities and curriculum designed to implement Christian ideals with loving care and creative experiences under the guidance of instructors who are sympathetic and comfortable with the ideals and purposes of the day school.
     CUMC Day School comes under the legal perimeter and jurisdiction of the UMC BOOK OF DISCIPLINE: is licensed & inspected by Arizona Dept. of Health Services. Catalina United Methodist Church granted the use of the physical properties of Church for the school. Such uses will be coordinated with the church administrator.
     In 1987 the term Day School Committee replaced the previous title of Day School Board and the concept of the Committee / Board being autonomous was also amended to correspond with the operating structure of Catalina United Methodist Church.
     [The] committee shall be responsible for reasonable charges assessed by the church Administrator to defray overhead expenses (utilities, custodial, liability insurance, etc.). *There shall be at least 2 weeks operational expenses available at all times in the CUMC Day School Bank account.
     The committee is responsible to operate the CUMC Day School within a reasonable rate structure (tuition) in order to serve the needs of the CUMC Day School families and the community."
     Finances: The Day School pays to the church a fixed amount each month. This amount is not called rent, however it covers custodial & clerical services, utilities including telephone, trash collection, pest control, and liability insurance. I have spoken with 3 other Day Schools in our community, 2 of them are UM Church day schools. Two pay rent (for one day school the amount is $1200/month which covers the cost of utilities, etc.); the other donates an amount for the use of utilities. Our tuition rate is midrange to these 3 schools.
     The school does collect a "fair and reasonable" tuition from each family whose children attend. First child tuition is $385.00, for each child thereafter per family the cost decreases incrementally by $10.00. We do have scholarship funds for those whose families need short term assistance. The day school budget allocates a monthly amount to be set aside for capitol expenditures. This is for such things as mats for the children to nap, tricycles, and hopefully repairing refrigerator compressors when they fail.
     Enrollment: We are an inclusive school. Children of any, all or no faith are welcomed and loved. Enrollment is currently at 88. Two of our Toddlers are on track to be "potty-trained", at which point they can be promoted to the "two year-olds" class, leaving room in the Toddlers class for 2 more. You can see that enrollment in ours, as in any school, is very fluid and can change from day to day. Families leave, move, change jobs, decide they can't afford day care, etc. When families who have more than one child enrolled leave the school, that changes enrollment numbers, class sizes and configurations. The state of Arizona has "maximum allowable" in student numbers for space and staff. NAEYC, National Association for Education of Young children is a certifying / credentialing organization which has standards for ideal conditions for teaching and learning. Catalina's Day School has been striving to meet those criteria, which is another reason we have had such a quality program for many years. There is a huge difference between "maximum allowable" numbers and a ratio of space and staff that makes learning easy & fun and school life tolerable.
     Day School Operation and Staff. School is opened and staffed from 6:30 am to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday,& accepts children from 15 months to 4 years. Staff includes 9 teachers and/or aides who work in the mornings and 5 aides who work in the afternoon. Our school has a dedicated staff, with the average length of tenure among 7 teachers being 14 years. It is more telling when we break it down and report that one of our teachers has been here for 28 years, another for 24 years, 2 others for 18.5 each. One of our devoted aides, who happens to be a member of Catalina, has served our children for 24 years. Our day school director, Jeanne Jensen, has been at Catalina for 27 years. We are delighted and very proud to have such dedicated teachers, and I want you to know that these teachers are not staying over 20 years because they are being well paid, although we are proud to have a benefit package that is comparable to or surpasses most in our city. They stay because they love their work, they love the children, and they feel well supported by their director. Our school and our director are well regarded in our community.
     Day School and Catalina Connections. The day school usually has 10 - 12% of students as members or attendees of Catalina church. One of the more fascinating roles of the Day School that speaks to my heart is the training ground it provides to our youth. Many of our Catalina youth have been employed by the Day School as aides or teachers. Some having attended the day school as students, grew up in our church and then became teachers aides themselves.
     Each summer, many of the Day School Children attend Vacation Bible School. This past summer nearly half of the VBS attendees were from the Day School.
     As part of our ongoing curriculum, the children are taught Christian concepts through stories, songs, and play in Chapel time every other Wednesday.
     The future. Our Church is in a mode for growth. We have a Church Growth coordinator and a program for igniting ministry. I believe that we can do much more to connect the day school and the church.