Our Board of Directors meeting is over. Most of the meeting was taken with budget issues. The Board voted to accept the budget as it was presented. Besides keeping on what we’re already doing, it will allow us to move ahead with the Strategic Plan that we laid the groundwork for. While the Board meetings generally go well, with good feedback, evaluation and challenge, it feels good to have them finished. I always feel a bit tired and drained when they are over. But I also had feelings of pride when my staff presented what each of the departments has accomplished this past year.
One benchmark we’ve been working hard at is high school retention. The efforts seem to be paying off. While nearby schools fight a nearly 50% drop out rate, we still have 38 of the 40 high school students who started the year. The two who left St. Joseph’s Indian School are currently enrolled in high schools back home, and hopefully will be part of a generation that completes school and sets their sights higher.