{mosimage}TORONTO - Full-day kindergarten is an investment in the future and a “courageous” decision during a time of economic downturn, says the head of the Catholic teachers' union.

But it's also not unfamiliar to Catholic schools, James Ryan told The Catholic Register, given that eight Catholic boards have some form of full-day kindergarten.

{mosimage}TORONTO - In the wake of calls to open all-boys schools by the Toronto public system, the Toronto Catholic District School Board said it has no plans to follow suit.

There are four all-boys schools in the Toronto Catholic school board right now, one — St. Michael’s Choir School — which is open to elementary school-age children.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Fixing up schools, having more special education teachers and fully restoring the controversial Arrowsmith program should be some of the projects funded by the projected budget surplus of the Toronto Catholic District School Board, say education groups.

Murielle Boudreau, chair of the Greater Toronto Catholic Parent Network, says the board is falling behind in its maintenance of schools.

{mosimage}MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - Trustees at the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board will review a proposal Nov. 24 that would have all novels pre-approved for use in the classroom by a central committee.

“We conceptualized the need for such a proposal in the last couple of years and have been doing a lot of work for what makes sense for our system and how we develop a proposal that’s going to honour the professionalism and the local decision making that we want our teachers and administrators to continue to do,” said superintendent of program Marianne Mazzorato.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Fr. Henry Carr High School supporters hope to build a $1.5 million “field of dreams” for their students and neighbourhood community.

Right now they’re about $500,000 shy of achieving that dream but hope to bridge the gap with the help of famous Carr alumni like former NHL star Pat Flatley, CFL/NFL veteran Kerry Carter and TV personality Enrico Colantoni.

{mosimage}TORONTO - It's déjà vu all over again, says the head of a Toronto-based Catholic parents' group, as two Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees are being hit with conflict-of-interest allegations.

“Here we go again. I mean, when is it going to end?” Murielle Boudreau, chair of the Greater Toronto Catholic Parent Network, told The Catholic Register.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The countdown for next year’s province-wide Catholic trustee elections begins with two upcoming trustee training workshops in Toronto.

Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Rob Davis plans to run a free “trustee boot camp” on Nov. 21 at the Catholic Education Centre. St. Augustine’s Seminary’s Institute of Theology will conduct trustee workshops starting in January.

{mosimage}TORONTO - In what appears to be a show of support for their embattled chair, a majority of Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees re-elected Angela Kennedy to the position at a Dec. 9 meeting.

Kennedy, who was first chosen as chair in January, is one of two Toronto Catholic trustees facing conflict of interest charges. She will be in Ontario Superior Court of Justice to answer to the charge Feb. 1. She is alleged to have voted on budgetary decisions despite having a son, who would potentially be affected by the decision, employed at the board.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Terence Sheridan has been appointed principal of St. Michael’s College School, only the second lay person to hold the position in the school’s 157-year history.

His appointment as the midtown Toronto school’s 28th principal takes effect in January.

“As an alumnus Mr. Sheridan has a strong commitment to the traditions of St. Michael’s College School,” said college president Fr. Joseph Redican, C.S.B., in a statement.

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - The degradation of the environment is a pressing moral problem that threatens peace and human life itself, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“We cannot remain indifferent to what is happening around us, for the deterioration of any one part of the planet affects us all,” the Pope said in his message for World Peace Day, Jan. 1.