TORONTO - Despite a provincial report which recommends ways for the Toronto Catholic District School Board to erase $34.9 million in red ink, trustees are hoping to dodge cuts by playing for time until the spring provincial budget.

TORONTO - One hundred curious alumni and parents of St. Michael's College School gathered for an information meeting Nov. 26 at the school to discuss plans to open an all girls' private Catholic school.

TORONTO - Continuity is the name of the game at the Toronto Catholic District School Board, where all 12 incumbent trustees were re-elected. Now those same 12 trustees have opted to continue under the leadership of Ward 8 trustee Oliver Carroll.

TORONTO - Ontario's Catholic community is embarking on another all-embracing discussion about the "distinctiveness, value and the future of Catholic education." The plan for the province-wide consultation was announced Nov. 25 at a symposium organized by the Institute for Catholic Education (ICE).

TORONTO - If Ontario's Catholic schools are struggling to stay afloat in turbulent waters, it would seem that half the time Catholics are stirring up the waves themselves. At a two-day conference dealing with the subject Nov. 24-25, leaders of the provincial separate school system struggled with how to overcome differences and face external challenges united.

TORONTO - With the elections out of the way, Ontario's new Catholic trustees will be shown the ropes of their job Jan. 12-13 in Toronto.

The Jolly Green Giant used to urge us all to "Look up, look waaay up." The Toronto Catholic District School Board is looking up into the air above some of it's old, crumbling and underpopulated schools and hoping to see some new money.

The Catholic presence on university campuses across Canada has often been reported as a tale of woe. Many Catholics have gotten used to the idea of their colleges as second-class citizens of the academy — intellectually suspect and financially under capitalized.

TORONTO - The saying "out with the old, in with the new"  did not seem to apply to Catholic school board trustee elections on Nov. 13, since almost all "the old" were re-elected, while "the new" were reluctantly given a chance.

The Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic School Board received the Marsha Forest Centre Rose Quartz Warrior Award on Oct. 30 for being the first school board in the world to include special needs students in its regular classrooms. The last program which separated special needs students closed down in 1969.