Please note that the other pages--"Committee Volunteers" and "HCS Unity Board"--listed in the menu in the left panel, are accessible only by Unity Board Members and their Committee membership. These pages are work sites, where current documents and discussions can be shared openly among the members, which is why the pages are accessible only by those members. If you have a request for information that is not included on this "School Community Information" page, please contact Julie Blazer, Unity Board Secretary, by clicking on her name in the roster at the bottom of this page and obtaining her contact information. She will then acknowledge your request and process your request with the Executive Committee. Please be assured that the Unity Board is not hiding anything--we are just trying to keep the information organized. Decisions that affect the future of Hastings Catholic Schools are discussed and made at Unity Board meetings, which are open to the School Community to attend.

Key abbreviations on this page include:

• HCS... Hastings Catholic Schools
• UB... Unity Board

On this page you can find several documents (the names of the documents are in bold, below, and can be found in the list of files at the bottom of the page):

Unity Board Organization Structure (This Model depicts the entities that are currently part of the Unity Board; this may evolve as other organizations within HCS become familiar with the Unity Board choose to become involved. The basic premise will stay the same, though--that all entities of HCS are engaged in a Unity Board to provide consistent guidance to HCS to achieve excellence across all facets of HCS. That is not a mission statement... just an explanation. An official Mission Statement will be forthcoming.)

Unity Board Officers and Executive Committee The following individuals are serving as the Officers of the Unity Board, and their contact information can be found in the roster at the bottom of this page:

• President: Mike Schultes
• Vice President: Bucky Herman
• Secretary: Julie Blazer

These three officers are on the Executive Committee. Other members of the Executive Committee include Father Brouillette, Father Jirovsky, Roy Demars, Becky Anderson, and Father Walsh. Please note: the Executive Committee's role is defined by the Bylaws, and it is important to briefly explain here that the Executive Committee is NOT a smaller, controlling group within the Unity Board. It's function is to provide joint leadership among the school community, Development Office, and Clergy to create the agenda, to hold the Unity Board Committees accountable, and to provide emergency support to Father Brouillette when situations arise between Unity Board meetings for which Father Brouillete would benefit from hearing joint school community discussion and recommendations.

Unity Board Committee Model (This Model depicts the Committees within the Unity Board. The Vertical Committees represent bodies of knowledge, policy and process within HCS. The Horizontal Committees have their own knowledge, policy, and process, but more importantly, they are threads that run through and are present in each of the Vertical Committees. The Research Committee provides support to the other Committees, so that research expertise can be utilized in all Committees, as well as to avoid a duplication of effort. The Executive Committee is an administrative entity created by the Bylaws, with one responsibility being to provide oversight and accountability of the Committees. Committee Chairs need to share reports with the Vice-Chair, who then shares the information with the Executive Committee during their meeting. The Executive Committee then uses the reports and updates to craft the Unity Board's agenda. The large yellow background represents the Strategic Planning Committee which is ongoing, and which will have as its first order of business the review and refinement of a Mission Statement and Vision Statement for HCS. These tasks do not prevent Committees from doing their work here and now, though. Finally, you'll see the crucifixes in the corners, and the transparent white cross in the center that touches all Committees, exemplifying that Christ and our Faith is present in all that we do.

Vision Model (This Model depicts how the HCS Vision will guide all that we do. In a nutshell, if we've decided where we want to be in the future, and we articulate that future state as a Vision Statement, then we should be able to trace every action that we do, all the way down to the Committee level activities, all the way back to the Vision. If a decision or activity is not aligned with the Vision and is not helping to realize the Vision directly or indirectly as a part of a longer stream of activities, then that decision or activity should not be made or undertaken. This is a management perspective and tool that the Unity Board will use to discuss what is being undertaken at the Committee level.)

Committee Structure and Process Documents: There are many documents that are part of this group. They include:

• Overview of the Unity Board and Committee Flow (a flow chart illustrating how the things get done within the Unity Board and the Committees)
• Committee Matrix (a synthesis of Committee-related information as of May 12th--this document will not be updated... it is only serving as the starting point for Committees)

In addition, if you are interested to help on a Committee, please contact the Committee Chair at the email listed below: