December 3, 2008
OCSTA Meetings at a Glance
OCSTA Board of Directors Meeting
December 5-6, 2008
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OCSTA Seminar for Chairs, Vice Chairs and Directors of Education
January 16-17, 2009
Doubletree By Hilton - Toronto
Airport
Presentation Highlights:
"Ministry Update" - Minister of Education, The Hon. Kathleen Wynne
"The Challenges & Opportunities Facing Catholic Chairs Today" -
Panel Discussion: Kathy Ablett, Ottawa CSB; Elizabeth Crowe, York CDSB;
Anita Labadie, St. Clair CDSB; Robert van Oort, Northwest CDSB
"Provincial
Governance Review Committee Discussion " - A Faciliated Discussion with
Committee Co-Chairs, Rick Johnson, President of the
Canadian School Board Association and Madeleine Chevalier,
Trustee,Conseil des écoles catholiques de langue française du Centre-Est
"Chaplaincy Report" - Noel Martin, Director, Catholic Education, OCSTA
"Modernizing
the Accountability Framework" - Andrew Davis, Director, Transfer
Payments and Financial Reporting Branch, Ministry of Education
To view the full program and registration package please click here
For more
information, please contact Pam DeNobrega at (416) 932-9460, ext. 234 or via
email at pdenobrega@ocsta.on.ca. |
Finance Brief
The
OCSTA Finance
Brief was submitted on November 20 to the Minister of Education and
Ministry officials. The Association has requested a meeting with
the Minister and will keep members updated.
To view the
OCSTA Finance Brief please visit the OCSTA website at http://www.ocsta.on.ca/governmentbriefs.aspx.
Pre-Budget Consultation
On
November 21st, OCSTA Vice President, Nancy Kirby, participated in a
Pre-Budget Consultation in Toronto with Finance Minister, The Hon.
Dwight Duncan and other community representatives.
Participation
in this consultation supports the Association’s efforts to advance and promote
the priorities contained within the Association’s Finance Brief.
Accessible Customer Service
Earlier
this year the new Regulation on Accessible Customer Service came into force
pursuant to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. In order to assist school boards in their
efforts to comply with requirements of the new Regulation, the Ontario
Education Services Corporation (OESC) has partnered with the Ministry of
Community and Social Services to create the Customer Service Project. This project will offer boards tools and
templates to support board efforts to comply with requirements of the
Regulation by January 2010.
The
Regulation will require school boards to establish policies, practices and
procedures governing the provision of goods or services to persons with
disabilities in a manner that respects their dignity and independence.
OESC has
asked Janet Wilkinson, former Director of Education of the Keewatin-to
lead the Accessible Customer Service Project and she is currently putting
together an Advisory/Working group with representatives from all four school
systems to work with her over the next year.
OCSTA is
pleased to announce that Dufferin-Peel CDSB Trustee, Tony da Silva will be
serving on this advisory group as the representative for Ontario’s publicly funded Catholic school
system.
For more
information please contact Carol Devine, Director, Legislative and Political
Affairs, (416) 932-9460, ext. 224 or email at cdevine@ocsta.on.ca.
Around the Board
- For
approximately 8 years the Peterborough
Victoria Northumberland & Clarington Catholic District School Board has
promoted literacy and the spiritual foundation of Catholic schools by
presenting each incoming kindergarten student with a book and book bag. This
year Superintendent, Ron McNamara and his staff decided to update the tradition
with a new title and eco-friendly twist.
In November over 800 incoming kindergarten students at the board received the
book “Blessings Every Day: 365 Simple Devotions for the Very Young” inside of
an eco friendly “zippered” bag. On the
outside of each bag is the following quote (in both English and French): “Loved
by God, Nurtured by Community, Every Student a Gift.”
- The Northwest Catholic District School Board
announced recently that Sacred
Heart School
in Sioux Lookout is offering, for the first time, a Native Language
course. The Board received funding of
$24,789 to develop a student mentorship program between Aboriginal students at Sacred Heart
School and those at St. Francis and
St. Michael’s in Fort
Frances.
From the Board’s news release: “New students will benefit directly from the
sharing of experiences and will understand how the languages program builds
cultural identity and acceptance among other cultures. Students and staff are excited about the
interaction that will take place.”
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The
Halton Catholic District School Board
has made significant changes to its newsletter to reflect a new focus at the
board. Director of Education at the
Board, Michael Pautler stated the following in the Board’s October newsletter
“I believe the surest way to fully appreciate the strength of our commitment
and the impact of our efforts as a system is to know and share the stories of
our individual school communities.”
To support this vision, the Board renamed the newsletter the “Catholic School
Community Connection” and adjusted the emphasis of communications to:
- acknowledge
the many good news stories at schools throughout the board and
- to
recognize the diversity and distinctiveness of the people and communities that
give life to the Halton CDSB.
Catholic Education Week, May 3-8, 2009: Advance
Kit
The
Catholic Education Week Advance Kit has been sent to all Catholic school boards
and authorities. The materials in each kit are also available on the OCSTA website here. Accompanying each kit was the following message from OCSTA’s Director, Catholic Education, Noel Martin:
Publicly
funded Catholic Education is one important instrument in the bringing of the
Good News to the people of Ontario. This year’s Catholic Education Week asks us
to focus and reflect on the reality that Catholic Education is Good News for
all! OCSTA is pleased to provide to
boards and schools our Advance Kit of prayers, reflections and activities to
help us recognize and celebrate this incredible vocation of being the bearers
of Good News.
During our
midnight Mass at Christmas we will hear these words from Luke’s Gospel “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing
you Good News of great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10). We re-echo the angel’s message.
Principals
have been asked to share a copy of the Advance Kit with their CSAC
Chairs. The kit is designed to help the adult community (trustees,
senior administration, board staff, school administrators, school
staff, school councils, parents, associations, etc.) to prepare and
celebrate this year's theme, Catholic Education: Good News for All!
Special
Note: The two inspiring high school students featured in the 2009
Catholic Education Week poster are students Jessica De Vittoris (Gr. 10) and John Lim (Gr. 11) from the Simcoe Muskoka
CDSB. OCSTA wishes to thank the Board and these students for their
support and contribution to this year's Catholic Education Week
promotion.
OCSTA’s Regional Directors
The OCSTA
Newswire is one of many methods the Association utilizes to keep members
informed. Another way for boards to keep
abreast of Association priorities is through discussion with the Regional
Directors. There are 12 regions in the
province represented by 15 Regional Directors. For your reference and
convenience, following is a list of OCSTA’s Regional Directors along with
contact information. This is information
is also located on the OCSTA website under the “About Us” tab.
Regional Directors
OCSTA Seminar for Catholic School
Board Communicators
On October
31st communications staff representatives from almost every Catholic
board in the province gathered at the Dufferin-Peel CDSB for the Annual OCSTA
Seminar for Catholic School Board Communicators.
Topics
discussed included:
-
OCSTA
Priorities (presenter: OCSTA President, Paula Peroni)
- Engaging the Catholic Community (presenter: Lou Rocha)
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Strengthening
Parish Relationships (presenter: Neil MacCarthy, Director, PR &
Communications, Archdiocese of Toronto)
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Catholic
Education in the Media - Media Panel featuring: Louise Brown, Education
Reporter, Toronto Star and; Nick Davis, Metro Morning Producer, CBC Radio.
The Association sincerely appreciates the gracious
hospitality of our host board for this event, Dufferin-Peel CDSB. In particular we would like recognize
Director of Education, John Kostoff and Community Relations Manager Bruce
Campbell for their leadership and support in making this event a success.
For those who were unable to attend this Seminar or who
would like to see the presentations that were delivered, please visit the OCSTA
Members’ page and click on the "Presentations" folder. You can access the OCSTA Members' page by visiting http://www.ocsta.on.ca/ocstamembers.aspx.
You
will need your OCSTA User ID and password to log in to this section of
the website. If you need assistance please contact Pam
DeNobrega at (416) 932-9460,ext 234 or email at pdenobrega@ocsta.on.ca.
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Seminar Participants
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(l.) Chris Jewell and Lisa Stocco (Halton CDSB) with Toronto Star Education Reporter, Louise Brown
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Neil MacCarthy, Director, PR & Communications, Archdiocese of Toronto
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Lou Rocha leads community engagement discussion.
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