OCSTA Newswire
Upcoming OCSTA Events:
2025 Catholic Trustees Seminar
When: January 17-18, 2025
Where: Delta by Marriott Toronto Airport Hotel
Seminar highlights include:
- Keynote presentation examining Catholic Education Leadership and the Seminar theme “Pilgrims of Hope” presented by Deirdre Kinsella Biss, Education Consultant, Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario;
- Special Catholic Trustee panel discussion on the Director of Education Performance Appraisal process;
- Focused, expert led workshops on topics that include Artificial Intelligence and Catholic Education; An Examination of the Toronto CDSB Pastoral Plan – Process and Impact; Leading Media Relations Strategies at Catholic School Boards, and; Skills Ontario Programming.
To view the Seminar program and register for the Seminar, please click on the blue button below:
OCSTA Catholic Education Leadership Series
OCSTA is pleased to announce that the next OCSTA Catholic Education Leadership Speaker Series event is The Year of the Jubilee 2025: Pilgrims of Hope – Considerations for Catholic Education Leaders, presented by The Most Rev. Bishop Gerard Bergie, Bishop of St. Catharines and President of the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario.
This timely event will take place on Wednesday, October 30th, 2024, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. This will be a virtual session hosted on the Zoom platform.
Pope Francis has announced that 2025 will be a Jubilee Year, something which happens every 25 years. As you know, the theme for Jubilee 2025 is “Pilgrims of Hope,” and His Excellency Bishop Bergie will be discussing the meaning of this historic moment for Catholic Education Leaders.
OCSTA Conversations
These presentations are part of OCSTA’s priority on encouraging conversations and sharing information with regards to the Catholic identity of publicly funded Catholic education, current issues in education and supporting the role of Catholic Trustees.
The length of each session will be between 60 to 90 minutes to accommodate audience questions, answers and conversation.
There is no charge for attending this event and we encourage all Trustees and other Catholic education leaders to register in advance – please see information below to complete registration.
REGISTRATION
OCSTA Catholic Education Leadership Speaker Series:
“The Year of the Jubilee 2025: Pilgrims of Hope – Considerations for Catholic Education Leaders with The Most Rev. Gerard Bergie, President, Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario”
WHEN: Wednesday, October 30, 2024 at 6:30 p.m.
FORMAT: Virtual (Zoom) – no fee to attend
REGISTRATION: Advanced registration is required. Please click on the link below to complete the registration.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtcOGsrjsjGNC_ySbMOiAphTZlcXHnAh8Z
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining this OCSTA event.
If you have questions or for more information, please contact Sharon McMillan at smcmillan@ocsta.on.ca.
Meeting with the Minister
(l. -r.) OCSTA President Michael Bellmore, The Hon. Jill Dunlop, Minister of Education, and OCSTA Exec. Director Nick Milanetti.
Just before the start of the new 2024-25 school year, Ontario Premier Doug Ford named Simcoe North MPP Jill Dunlop as the province’s new Minister of Education.
The Association immediately confirmed a meeting with Minister Dunlop and OCSTA President Michael Bellmore which took place on September 18th.
Among the topics discussed with Minister Dunlop were the successes and key priorities of Catholic school boards in Ontario in addition to current concerns regarding the implementation of new legislation – Bill 98 or the Better Schools and Students Outcomes Act, 2023. This legislation includes mandatory provisions, investigative processes and financial penalties regarding Trustee Code of Conduct, electronic meetings and school board trustee meeting attendance requirements.
This legislation also introduced new procedures for the Director of Education Performance Appraisal. OCSTA successfully advocated on denominational grounds for a Director of Education Performance Appraisal process that honours and encompasses the distinctive faith-based priorities of Catholic education.
To facilitate this objective, OCSTA developed distinctive templates and resources for CDSB’s that were presented and demonstrated through a series of live, online webinars.
OCSTA 2024 Fall Regional Meetings
The annual OCSTA cross-province Regional Meetings launched on September 17th with the Central Region meeting hosted by the Toronto Catholic DSB followed by meetings in the East at the Ottawa Catholic School Board, in the West at the Waterloo Catholic DSB, in the Northeast at the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic DSB, and in the Northwest at the Thunder Bay Catholic DSB.
Regional Meetings provide an opportunity for Catholic Trustees within each of the five regions of the province to gather to discuss with their peers and the Association’s provincial executive, local and system-wide issues and priorities in Catholic education.
 Central Region delegates met at the Toronto CDSB. |  East Region delegates met at the Ottawa CSB. |
 | OCSTA President Michael Bellmore provided an overview of the current work of the Association and the alignment of that work with the issues and priorities of the membership and the current environment for education in Ontario.
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 | OCSTA Director of Catholic Education, Anne O’Brien discussed Catholic Identity and Christian Service, followed by a presentation on the 2024-25 OCSTA Catholic Education Theme for Ontario’s Catholic Schools – “Pilgrims of Hope” . |
 | OCSTA Executive Director Nick Milanetti delivered a timely presentation on the new legislated processes for the Director of Education Performance Appraisal.
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Short-Video Contest for Students
As was announced in the summer, “Pilgrims of Hope” is both the 2025 Jubilee Year Theme announced by Pope Francis and the OCSTA 2024-25 Catholic Education Theme that will be celebrated throughout the year culminating with Catholic Education Week in May.
This short-video contest is an exciting opportunity for students to use the engaging video medium to create 2-minute presentations that demonstrate how they are “Pilgrims of Hope” in their Catholic school communities.
Catholic Education Theme: Online Resources
Director of Catholic Education, Anne O’Brien works with a provincial team of educators and faith animators from CDSBs across the province to develop weekly/monthly resources under this year’s Catholic Education theme – “Pilgrims of Hope”.
View the current “Pilgrims of Hope” Bulletin
Access/download “Pilgrims of Hope” online resources
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