Inside this Issue:

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Upcoming Events – January 15-17, 2015:

Ministry of Education Trustee Orientation Seminar

When: January 15, 2015 at the Delta Meadowvale Hotel and Conference Centre

Featured speakers include:

• The Hon. Liz Sandals, Minister of Education
• Dr. Jean Clinton, Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Member of Accepting Schools Expert Panel and Education Advisor to the Premier of Ontario
• Marion Thomson Howell, Performance Management Consultant and Former Chair of the Waterloo Catholic DSB

NOTE: Complimentary registration for this orientation event as it is sponsored by Ministry of Education.

To register for the Ministry of Education sponsored orientation visit https://www.ocsta.on.ca/ministry-of-education-trustee-orientation-session/.

Catholic Trustees’ Professional Development Seminar

When: January 16 & 17, 2015 at the Delta Meadowvale Hotel and Conference Centre

Featured speakers include:

• THE HONORABLE PETER D. LAUWERS, Judge, Court of Appeal for Ontario (and former OCSTA Counsel)
• JAMES LOCHRIE, Certified Professional Parliamentarian and Instructor, Parliamentary Law
• DR. MARK MCGOWAN, Professor of History, University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto
• OCSTA President, KATHY BURTNIK and OCSTA Director, PATRICK J. DALY discussing the topic: “Overview of the Collective Bargaining Process and Role of the OCSTA Labour Relations Department

For event and hotel registration visit https://www.ocsta.on.ca/catholic-trustees-professional-development-seminar/.

OPSBA – OCSTA Joint Submission re: Bill 8, Public Sector
and MPP Accountability and Transparency Act

OCSTA President Kathy Burtnik, accompanied OPSBA President Michael Barrett for the presentation to the Standing Committee on General Government regarding Bill 8, Public Sector and MPP Accountability and Transparency Act, 2015 on November 26, 2014.

The submission represented the perspectives of all four school board/trustee associations in Ontario and commented on two schedules within the proposed legislation that will directly affect school boards.

School boards operate under many regulations, policies and guidelines and provide various reports throughout the year to the the Ministry of Education to meet transparency and accountability requirements. In light of the current rigorous mechanisms for accountability and transparency, the position of Ontario’s public, Catholic and French school boards is that school boards are being unfairly captured in the consideration of Schedule 1 – Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, 2014 and Schedule 9 – Amendments to the Ombudsman Act and Related Amendments.  The reporting requirements for school boards far exceed requirements in any other sector.

Read the Joint Submission of Ontario’s School Boards by clicking here.

Students Province-wide Create 2-Minute Videos About ADVENT

On display right now on the OCSTA YouTube Channel are official short-video submissions about Advent that have been created by students in Ontario’s Catholic schools and supported by many teachers across our system.

The submissions are part of the current Faith in Our Future Short-video contest that celebrates the meaning of Advent and the wonderful ways the season is recognized and embraced in our Catholic schools and communities.

We invite everyone to visit the OCSTA Channel at www.youtube.com/ocstavideo1 to view the Faith in Our Future Advent Video Contest submissions and we encourage you to share the URL with your family and friends.

The top three winners will be announced in January.

For more information, contact OCSTA’s Co-ordinator of Communications, Sharon McMillan at smcmillan[at]ocsta.on.ca / (416) 932-9460.

Catholic Social Teaching, Catholic Education and The Catholic Trustee

Trustees are invited to enroll in the new on-line Catholic Leadership Trustee Certificate Course offered by OCSTA in collaboration with eight Ontario Catholic universities. The course involves 12 weekly lessons and runs from January to April, 2015.

Lesson #2 in this course focuses on the origins of Catholic social teaching and its influence on Catholic leadership today. In 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued the now famous encyclical Rerum Novarum. It was a declaration by the Catholic Church that it served both a spiritual and secular purpose in society. Rerum Novarum openly condemned the brutal treatment of the working poor in the Industrial Revolution and insisted governments play an active role in protecting the vulnerable in society. Since 1891, successive Popes have enlarged this teaching to ten principles of Catholic social teaching that includes global economic justice, stewardship of the environment, world peace, and solidarity with oppressed nations.

In this lesson, trustees will examine the evolution of Catholic social teaching from 1891 to the present day. As well, trustees will examine the websites of National Bishops’ Councils including those of Canada, the US, Europe, India and Australia who, each month, address current issues in economics, politics, and human rights from a Catholic perspective –all of these rooted in the ten principles of Catholic social teaching. These contemporary Catholic statements on national and world issues are a very significant resource for Ontario Catholic trustees.

Online registration for this course began on November 14, 2014.  For information and registration for the course, please see:   https://www.ocsta.on.ca/trustee-certificate-course/

For more information, contact OCSTA’s Director of Catholic Education, Brian O’Sullivan at bosullivan[at]ocsta.on.ca / (416) 932-9460.