{mosimage}TORONTO - A judge has ordered former Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Oliver Carroll to pay close to $50,000 to help cover legal fees of the ratepayer who brought conflict-of-interest charges against him.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly ruled on April 15 that Carroll must pay $46,420 within six months. The amount will cover some of the legal costs of Catholic ratepayer Michael Baillargeon who brought the charges against Carroll.

TORONTO - When Grade 12 student Vanessa Tillner graduates this year, she could be one of the last students to do so at the original site of St. Joseph’s Morrow Park High School.

Next year, the school celebrates its 50th anniversary at its Bayview Avenue site in the northern reaches of the city. But the Toronto Catholic District School Board says if the school’s current lease isn’t renegotiated, there will be a new all-girls school for future graduates.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The conduct of school trustees is an issue that has dogged Ontario’s largest Catholic school board for the past year.

But as a provincial governance review committee considers a mandatory code of ethics and conduct, the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association says these types of codes should be voluntary.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Students at St. John the Evangelist Catholic School spread the word about striving for a world of zero waste through a Grade 5/6 play called What a Lot of Garbage on April 27.

The students presented the play before parents, friends, local politicians MPP Laura Albanese and City Councillor Frances Nunziata and Director of Education Ann Perron.

The play was a dialogue between a reporter, a student, Mother Nature, garbage, businessmen, the government and more as they travel through time to see the effects of human actions. 

{mosimage}TORONTO - Comics books and D-Day simulations aren’t the standard teaching tools.

But for teacher Manuel Cordeiro, it’s these unconventional methods of boosting students’ reading and analytical skills which have garnered him a Premier’s Award of Teaching Excellence as a new teacher.

Cordeiro is a social science teacher at St. Edmund Campion High School. He began teaching at the school in October.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Ontario’s only private Catholic school for girls in Grades 5 to 12 was going to be the latest casualty of the economic crisis.

But a group of parents has come up with a plan to keep the doors of Mississauga’s Holy Name of Mary College School open.

Parent Dan Giampuzzi said when the school announced in March that it was going to close due to low enrolment, he and three parents came together to try to save it. They proposed lower tuition rates, more funding for bursaries and financial assistance and a new Grade 5 and 6 class for parents who wanted to send their younger children to the school. And $300,000 was also raised.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Ontario’s education minister should establish a provincial code of conduct for all school boards, says a new report .

In its April 22 report, the Governance Review Committee recommended that the minister consult with trustees or trustee organizations to set a minimum code of conduct for trustees.

While noting that many school boards already have policies on ethics or conduct for trustees, the committee said creating a uniform code of conduct would “ensure some level of consistency across the province.”

{mosimage}TORONTO - When principal Angelo Bolotta makes his usual morning rounds down the hallway, he greets each student he meets by name.

It’s this community spirit, he says, that helps Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts students excel.

The school for Grade 7 to 12 students ranks as the top Catholic school in Toronto in the Fraser Institute’s latest report card on Ontario high schools.

{mosimage}TORONTO - When nine-year-old Erica Martin and her friends take a break from playing in the schoolyard, they sit down on the yellow gas pipes along the side of the yard.

But as the weather gets warmer, the St. Brigid Elementary School students say resting on the metal pipes isn’t exactly a good idea.

“Students need shade. Sometimes it gets too hot,” said nine-year-old Erica.

{mosimage}TORONTO - We’re sorry, ask for your forgiveness and hope you will trust us again.

That was the message from 12 Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees in a public apology.

“Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the embarrassment, anxiety and frustration we have caused to the school communities, our staff and Catholic ratepayers for our actions, lack of actions and mistakes,” the trustees said in a May 1 statement.