TORONTO - Parents as First Educators’ (PAFE) president Teresa Pierre is urging Ontario’s Catholic school trustees to pressure their boards into refusing to implement Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA) in Catholic schools.

“A legal opinion (from lawyer Geoff Cauchi) obtained by PAFE argues Catholic trustees are obliged to refuse to implement GSAs in Catholic schools,” said Pierre at a news conference held in the shadow of St. Michael’s Cathedral in downtown Toronto July 5. “Mr. Cauchi says a reasonable court should find that ‘it would be absurd to expect a Catholic board to tolerate the presence in its schools of student groups that present an anti-Catholic counter witness.’ ”

Students and staff at Queen of Peace Catholic Elementary School in Leamington, Ont., have 15,000 reasons to celebrate.

That’s how many dollars the school’s efforts have raised for a clean water system at a new all-girls secondary school in the Maasai region of Kenya. 

After the students raised $5,000 during their Clean Water campaign, a component of Free the Children’s Adopt a Village program, they learned their efforts were matched, not once, but twice.

Two directors of eduction at small Catholic school boards in rural Ontario have shelved plans to retire so they can fight for their boards’ survival.

Paul Wubben of the St. Clair Catholic District School Board and Bruce MacPherson of the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board were to wrap up their careers this summer but both have decided to stay on, at the request of their local trustees, as each board faces being swallowed up by larger neighbouring school boards.

Staying on was not in the plans for either director, but then came March, the provincial budget and the A word — amalgamation.

MISSISSAUGA, ONT. - This year’s Premier’s Award for Excellence in Leadership has been awarded to a Catholic school board representative for the first time.

“It was a very humbling experience,” said Mark Cassar, principal of Corpus Christi School in Mississauga.  “I tend to not like too much attention on myself that way but to have your colleagues and the parents and your students cheering for you, it was an amazing feeling.”

Cassar received the award from Education Minister Laurel Broten at a ceremony that Premier Dalton McGuinty also attended June 12. The spotlight kept shining on Cassar the following day as the Corpus Christi community recognized his achievements during its year-end celebration.

TORONTO - Some 75 staff, students and parents were treated to a day of aboriginal music and dancing as the Toronto Catholic District School Board celebrated National Aboriginal Day June 21.

"We invited some aboriginal people to celebrate with them and to demonstrate some of the celebrations as part of their culture," said Bruce Rodrigues, TCDSB's director of education. "It's important to acknowledge (aboriginal culture) so that our students can have an understanding of the diversity that we have within the system."

National Aboriginal Day has been celebrated in Canada since 1996 to recognize, celebrate and preserve the unique aboriginal cultures while acknowledging their contributions to contemporary Canada.

The Grade 7 students at Oakville's St. Dominic Catholic Elementary School were the driving force behind the establishment of the Bronte Veterans' Garden along Halton Region's Veterans Highway. For several years, the students have been creating posters as a tribute to Canada's fallen soldiers from the mission in Afghanistan. On June 15, the St. Dominic's students were joined by Canada's Defense Minister Peter McKay, who helped unveil two plaques at the garden dedicated to Trooper Marc Diab and Col. Geoff Parker, two soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan.

(All photos by Boris Hofman)

It isn’t just members of the Catholic school system being rubbed the wrong way by the Ontario government’s Bill-13.

The passage into law of the province’s anti-bullying legislation was the final straw for David Goldsmith, a trustee for the Lambton Kent District School Board.

“Bill-13 is causing me a lot of heartburn,” said Goldsmith, who will officially step down from his position June 30 after nine years with the southwestern Ontario school board.

Good Shepherd Notre Dame House School in Hamilton, Ont., graduated its largest class yet on June 19, with eight students collecting their high school diploma.

For Loretta Hill-Finamore, director of youth services at Good Shepherd Centres, having a graduating class of eight is very inspiring.

“That’s our goal, for everyone to graduate,” Hill-Finamore said. “We’re so proud of them.

TORONTO - It's not the championships, the money and certainly not the hours that Paul Forbes will miss as St. Michael's College School's veteran athletic director sizes up retirement after 36 years.

"It's the personnel, the people you work with. They started as colleagues, as peers, but many of them are close personal friends now," said Forbes, who was appointed athletic director at the midtown Toronto private Catholic school in 1985. "The staff and students I've been privileged to work with over the years is the best part of the job."

The following is the address by Douglas Roche, O.C., to the St. Jerome’s University convocation in Waterloo, Ont., June 14. The university honoured Roche, a former Canadian Senator, MP and Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament, with an honorary degree in recognition of his 35-year public career that specialized in peace and human security issues.