OCSTA Newswire

2025 Catholic Trustees Seminar

Seminar Highlights

Almost 200 OCSTA delegates attended the annual Catholic Trustees Seminar, January 17 -18, 2025 at the Delta by Marriott Toronto Airport Hotel. Hosted by York CDSB Trustee and Chair of the OCSTA Catholic Education and Trustee Enrichment Committee, Jennifer Wigston, this year’s Seminar also provided an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate in person the Jubilee Year.

“Our Seminar theme “Catholic Trustees – Leading with Hope” speaks to our celebration of the Jubilee proclaimed by Pope Francis to be the year where we will focus on hope as “Pilgrims of Hope.

The Jubilee Year is a time of spiritual renewal, reconciliation, and pilgrimage, where the faithful are encouraged to grow closer to God through repentance, prayer, acts of mercy and charity,” said Trustee Wigston.

Keynote Presentation – Leading with Hope, presented by Deirdre Kinsella Biss

The keynote presentation delivered by former Principal and current CPCO Consultant, Dierdre Kinsella Biss, offered an informative and very interactive opportunity for Trustees to examine Hope from the perspectives of our faith, our personal experiences and as leaders in Catholic education.

President Michael Bellmore

OCSTA President Michael Bellmore provided a membership update on the work of OCSTA and an acknowledgement of the dedication and contributions of the OCSTA Board of Directors and trustees, students and educators throughout our Catholic school system.

Among the key advocacy priorities of the Association were the concerns related to regulations under Bill 98, including Trustee Attendance at Meetings, and the government’s push for the use of Integrity Commissioners. President Bellmore reviewed OCSTA’s call for the government to respect the role of Trustees and the will of the electorate by revoking legislation that would give school board Chairpersons the power to have a trustee’s seat vacated after a period of unexcused absences. We invite you to listen to the full President’s Report and view the detailed Power Point Slides which are located in the 2025 Presentation section of the OCSTA Members Centre.

Trustee Module Session – Director of Education Performance Appraisal Process

Vikki Dupuis, Wellington CDSB

Karen McAllister, CDSB of Eastern Ontario

Nancy Crawford, Toronto CDSB

OCSTA is focused on providing timely professional development to members and to that end received support from the provincial government to produce a session on the provincial Trustee Learning Module 5 – the new Director of Education Performance Appraisal Process.

We would like to extend our appreciation to the following OCSTA members who participated on the Catholic Trustee Panel for this Module which served to provide the distinctive perspective and experience of 3 Catholic school boards on this topic:

• Nancy Crawford, DPA Committee Chair, Toronto Catholic DSB;
• Vikki Dupuis, DPA Committee Chair, Wellington Catholic DSB, and;
• Karen McAllister, DPA Committee Chair, Catholic DSB of Eastern Ontario.

The session was moderated by OCSTA Executive Director, Nick Milanetti.

Delegates have already provided very positive feedback on this presentation. We look forward to editing the video specifically for the Trustee Learning Module system (to facilitate independent review online) and will announce when this resource is finalized.

Catholic Trustees Workshops

AI Panel

This year’s Seminar workshops were designed to equip Trustees with timely information on topics important in education today. Following are the list of Workshop topics offered –please check the OCSTA 2025 CTS Presentations section in the Members Centre of the OCSTA website to review Workshop Power Point presentations that were made available to OCSTA.

Workshop Topics:

• “Artificial Intelligence – A Catholic Perspective” – Discussion Panel: Thomas D’Amico, Director of Education, Ottawa CSB;Tyrone Dowling, Director of Education, Waterloo CDSB; Lewis Poché, Associate Program Director, Higher Powered Learning, Alliance for Catholic Education, University of Notre Dame, USA.
• “Skills Ontario – Programming and Services” Ian Howcroft, CEO, Skills Ontario Nicole Stoikos, Programs Manager, Skills Ontario.
• “Toronto CDSB Pastoral Plan – In God’s Image: Growing in Knowledge with Justice and Hope” Brendan Browne, Director of Education, Toronto CDSB Michael Caccamo, Superintendent of Education, Toronto CDSB.
• “Beyond the Headlines: Understanding PR, Media Relations & Crisis Response in Catholic School Boards – Discussion Panel” Galen Eagle, Communications Manager, PVNC CDSB Sharlene Hunter, Communications Manager, Ottawa CSB Pauline Stevenson, Communications Manager, Simcoe Muskoka CDSB.

Student Trustees

We were pleased to welcome the largest attendance of Student Trustees at an OCSTA event. In addition to attending plenary sessions and directing great questions to Seminar presenters, Student Trustees attending the provincial Student Trustee Workshop “Celebrating Indigenous Achievement”.

The Workshop addressed one of the pillar priorities of the provincial Catholic School Student Trustee Executive – Indigenous Education and Achievement. During the workshop students reviewed work to date on the development of “Indigenous Influencers” resources celebrating Indigenous achievement in Canada and discussed next steps for enhancing this work to be even more far-reaching and comprehensive.

We would like to thank presenters Baily Clyne, Indigenous Student Trustee, Dufferin-Peel Catholic DSB; Monica Galstyan, York Catholic DSB Student Trustee and OSTA-AECO Vice President; Cortnee Goure, Indigenous Lead, St. Clair Catholic DSB, and; Nick Bertrand, Director, Aboriginal Education Office, Ministry of Education.

Closing Plenary – Demographic and Socio-Economic Trends Impacting Education in Ontario

We were pleased to welcome national pollster and repeat presenter at OCSTA, Greg Lyle of the Innovative Research Group. This presentation addressed many of the current political and socio-economic and demographic trends having impact/potential impact on education and life in our province and country.

We encourage you to view Greg’s presentation in the Members Centre.

Short Video Contest Awards

The OCSTA Short Video Contest annually provides an opportunity for students in grades 4 – 12 at our Catholic schools to demonstrate their faith-inspired creativity by creating a 2-minute video aligned to the contest theme which this year was “Pilgrims of Hope”.

Please click here to view the winners and the winning videos.

Following are pictures from the presentations made at the Seminar on January 17th.

Elementary Div.1st Place Winner: St. Mary CES. Board Rep.: Danny Di Lorenzo, Chair, Niagara CDSB	Elementary Div. 2nd Place Winner: St. Luke’s CES. Board Rep.: Shawn Fitzsimmons, Chair, Nipissing-Parry Sound CDSB	Elementary Div. 3rd Place Winner: St. Charles Garnier CES. Board Rep.: Dr. Brendan Browne, Director of Education.
Secondary Div. 1st Place Winner: Dante Alighieri Academy. Board Rep: Markus de Domenico, Chair, Toronto CDSB.	Secondary Div. 2nd Place Winner: Notre Dame College School. Board Rep: Danny Di Lorenzo, Chair, Niagara CDSB	Secondary Div. 3rd Place Winner: St. Charles College. Board Rep.: Michael Bellmore, Chair, Shannon Gouchie, Trustee, David Madiba Akero, Student Trustee.

Catholic Education Week Song

OCSTA was pleased to officially launch the Catholic Education Theme song for this school year “Pilgrims of Hope” during the closing Mass for the Seminar. Performed by the song’s author Nancy Boss with accompaniment from her family.

The Association is deeply grateful to Nancy and her family for sharing their musical gifts in celebration of Catholic Education in Ontario and this year’s Jubilee.

Media/Spokesperson Training for CDSB Chairs

One of the key roles served by School Board Chairs is the role of Board Spokesperson. In this role, the Board Chair attracts the interest of constituents and community members thus providing an opportunity to effectively share very importantly through the media, accurate and helpful information about board priorities and the board perspective on various matters as they arise.

To support this important communications role, OCSTA will, once again, host the annual virtual media training seminar for Catholic School Board Chairs on Wednesday, January 29th , 2025 from 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. This seminar will provide media training specifically designed to give Catholic School Board Chairs (in their role as the Board’s official spokesperson) greater control over the media interview and resulting coverage.

We are pleased to welcome back Dave Sieger, Principal at Enterprise Canada and the firm’s lead media trainer. Under his guidance and experience working with several Catholic school boards, this media training session will examine the particular needs of Catholic School Board Chairs whether they are experienced board spokespersons or recent to the role.

OCSTA is offering this 1.5-hour media training session at no charge to boards. Subsequent, small groups or one on one virtual media coaching sessions are available upon request.

WHEN: Wednesday, January 29, 2025
TIME: 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (E.S.T.)
FORMAT: Zoom Live Video Conference
COST: No Charge
DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION: January 27, 2025
PLEASE REGISTER IN ADVANCE FOR THIS MEETING:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/lZjIlnB9SrqvcXStopqLug

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information
about joining the meeting.

Monthly Pilgrims of Hope Bulletin

Please visit the Catholic Education Theme/Week page on this website to view the monthly Pilgrims of Hope Bulletins that are published to provide faith references and activities in celebration of the Jubilee Year and this year’s Catholic Education Theme – Pilgrims of Hope.