Check out the "Important Documents" link on the left hand side of the page (below the "Blog Archive"). There are links to the meeting minutes from the two group meetings, along with the marketing PowerPoint presentation put together by the R.I.T. students. They are there in their native Microsoft formats. I hope to have them up in Adobe Acrobat format (PDF) soon, so those without the Microsoft Suite can view them also.
*** UPDATE: PDFs are now uploaded. Thanks to Jim Stack! ***
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Thank you to those who prepared these documents and to Darrin for posting them. I have emailed the PDF versions of the files back to Darrin. It may take some time to post them. In the meantime, you can download and install a free alternative to Microsoft Office.
Visit http://www.openoffice.org/ and you can get the Open Office Suite. This software is developed under the open source model and is sponsored by SUN Microsystems. It is safe and has been evolving for many years. I know it can be scary to use software you never heard of so feel free to check out independent reviews.
The software has a full suite of programs. I know that the alternatives to Word and Excel are compatible with those program, that is they can open and save files in those formats. I believe the other programs are also MS compatible.
Even though I paid for a full copy of Microsoft Office when I got the new computer, I have since helped friends and relatives download and install this software. I have not heard any complaints yet.
I have read the minutes of the January 29 meeting. In the Questions/Comments section under "What kind of support can we expect from the parish?", I think it is correct to "assume nothing". I don't mean to be unsympathetic, but it is unrealistic to expect parents who do not send their kids to Catholic school to pledge large amounts of money to save them. A substantial portion of what we put in the collection basket goes to them already. Some of us send our kids to public schools for financial, logistical, or educational reasons. Others did not have positive experiences with our own Catholic education. For every adult who says, "the nuns were tough, but I survived", there is another who chooses not to put their own child through the same thing. I know it is different now, but childhood experiences affect adult decisions. God bless the Sisters for their sacrifice and service, but some of them should have been given other jobs, away from children. As lay teachers have replaced the Sisters, costs have skyrocketed, because although they are paid substandard non-union wages, the difference between low pay and no pay is substantial. If the parents of SMM school are able to keep it open, great, but I fear they are setting themselves up for a double disappointment. Instead of spending the next five months speculating on iffy propositions, they should be investigating other options for their children's education. The parish should consider future options for the building, including using it for a parish center, instead of asking parishioners to support a new one. If there were enough families to support SMM school, this page would not exist. No affluent patron is going to rescue it and be accused of ignoring the other 12 schools. These are the opinions of one parishioner, but they are not unique. God bless the children and parents of SMM school, but it is time to move on.
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