(Le Mars) — Gehlen Catholic held an open town hall meeting Thursday night to focus on the development of a long range strategic plan. Gehlen Catholic school board director Anne Oloff of Le Mars moderated the forum. She says the purpose of the meeting is to gather comments from the public to give direction for Gehlen
Catholic schools.
Oloff says the long-term plan will cover the next five years, but she says some of the goals and action items may be broken down even more.
She says there are five different areas the Gehlen Catholic School Board examines when developing its long range five-year strategic plan.
More than 50 people attended the meeting, and then gathered in break-out groups relating to their interests. Oloff shares some of the ideas and questions that were mentioned during Thursday’s town hall meeting.
In recent years, Gehlen Catholic has been fortunate to see an increase in student enrollment numbers. However, the Gehlen Catholic school official acknowledges the two main challenges for any private or parochial school is increasing and retaining student enrollment, and generating enough funds to remain sustainable.
Oloff says school officials will compile the suggestions and comments from the town hall meeting, and present a final draft of Gehlen’s Long Range Strategic Plan within the month.
