OVERVIEW THE DISTRICT
OF SAN FRANCISCO'S
THIRD ASSEMBLY ON MISSION August 1-4, 2010

The District’s Third Assembly on Mission was held August 1-4, 2010 at Saint Mary’s College of California. The 82 delegates to the Assembly included:

The members of the District Council,
The members of the District Leadership Team,
The members of the District Mission Council,
The Presidents and Principals of schools and leadership from Saint Mary’s College,
The directors or leaders of District educational institutions other than schools,
Board Chairs or their delegated representative(s), Delegates recommended by local educational apostolates,
Delegates-at-large appointed by Brother Visitor.

Additionally six observers participated, three each from the District of New Orleans/Santa Fe and the District of Eastern North America.

The theme of the Assembly was “Accessibility of our Educational Apostolates to Students from Families Whose Income is at or near the Poverty Level.”

The first part of the Assembly was devoted to education on this fundamental theme of the District’s mission. Presenters included:

• A panel of five students who are currently enrolled or recent graduates of our schools, facilitated by Angelica Garcia and Dr. Dana Herrera of Saint Mary’s College, shared their experiences within our educational communities;

• Dr. Pedro Noguera, professor from New York University and leading expert in urban school reform, spoke to creating culturally responsive schools;

• Fr. Tim Scully, CSC, professor at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN and founder of the Alliance for Catholic Education spoke about the state of Catholic education nation-wide, especially the needs of Hispanic families;

• Dr. Mary McCall, professor of psychology, Saint Mary’s College of California, and a research and statistical consultant, presented preliminary data from our schools regarding retention and success of students from low income families.

During the second part of the Assembly, each delegate participated in a specific focus group from among six pre-defined focus group areas:

Finance and Development
Educational Culture
Retention
Recruitment and Admissions
Curriculum
Formation for Mission

Within these focus groups, the delegates identified lines of action for the mission of the District over the next four years related to the theme of accessibility. Below is a summary of the proposed lines of actions.

• Implement partnerships to secure new sources of funding and develop District financial short term and long term forecasts;
  
  
• Gather data that identifies the factors contributing to the effectiveness of Lasallian education to enhance retention;
  
  
• Gather data for the purpose of ensuring sustainability, addressing impacts on changing demographics, and promoting revenue;
  
  
• Develop or enhance a local cultural competency program to improve the awareness, knowledge, and sensitivity to student needs;
  
  
• Pursue an ongoing assessment of accessibility within our educational apostolates;
  
  
• Implement means to remove identified cultural barriers;
  
  
• Share curricula designs that respond to diverse student needs, promote inclusive community, and help close achievement gaps;
  
  
• Share recruitment and admission best practices and develop guidelines to advance student success and to assure students will thrive;
  
  
• Describe and articulate a common, quality Lasallian curriculum that will help us measure success;
  
  
• Share the work of the Mission Assembly with Brothers and Lasallian Partners;

The lines of action and accompanying rationale will be submitted to the 13th District Chapter, which will begin its series of meetings in the fall of this year. Thereafter, the District Leadership and the District Mission Council will craft a new District Action Plan for 2011-2015.