{mosimage}TORONTO - The Toronto Catholic District School Board will remain under provincial supervision for another year but interim steps could be taken to allow trustees to sit at the board table, said board supervisor Norbert Hartman.

The Catholic trustees will not regain decision-making authority until after the next municipal elections in November 2010, Hartmann told  The Register. He said provincial laws specify that publicly funded boards can only escape supervision when their budgets are balanced.

TORONTO - Teen dating and online relationships will be among new topics in the revised family life textbooks for Ontario Catholic elementary students.

The Fully Alive textbooks for Grades 6 to 8 students are part of the updated second edition of the Ontario bishops’ family life program which starts at Grade 1. The original texts were published from 1988 to 1992, with the Grade 6 revised edition expected this fall and the final two revisions within the next few years. Earlier revisions were launched two years ago.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Certified teachers should run full-day kindergarten programs soon to be implemented in Ontario schools instead of hiring part-time early childhood educators, says the president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association.

Following the Ontario government’s pledge to implement recommendations in a new report on early learning, association president James Ryan said students will benefit more from having a full-day program delivered by certified teachers.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Budget woes that have forced cuts to programs at the Toronto Catholic District School Board can be solved with a bailout from the province, says a local Catholic parent group.

“If they can bail out (swimming) pools at the public board for $16 million, surely they can bail out the board,” Murielle Boudreau of the Greater Toronto Catholic Parent Network told The Catholic Register after the provincially supervised board revealed its budget, which will chop the remaining $10 million of its accumulated deficit, at a public meeting June 24.

{mosimage}TORONTO - A year of provincial supervision for the Toronto Catholic District School Board has been a year with little accountability and transparency, say some Catholic parent groups.

Murielle Boudreau, chair of the Greater Toronto Catholic Parent Network, said it has often been a one-way conversation with the provincially appointed supervision team of Norbert Hartmann and Norm Forma on key issues like the budget and special education funding.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Neil McNeil High School could be getting a new building, paid for by new condos or townhouses on the current school site, according to the Toronto Catholic District School Board.

Neil McNeil is part of a cluster of high schools undergoing a school accommodation review by the Toronto Catholic board. The cluster includes Notre Dame, Cardinal Newman, Jean Vanier and St. Patrick High Schools, all in east Toronto and south Scarborough.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Saving the Arrowsmith program at the Toronto Catholic District School Board is an issue of equal rights for students with multiple learning disabilities, says a Toronto-based parent group.

“We are trying to level the playing field. We are trying to make sure that our children can have equitable access to teaching and what they need to move through the (education) system,” Clint Harder, a spokesperson for LD Families.org, told The Catholic Register.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Catholic schools are receiving top marks in Ontario, according to a new study.

In the C.D. Howe report “Ontario’s Best Public Schools, 2005/06-2007/08,” 10 of the top 11 schools, out of about 3,000 publicly funded schools, are from Catholic boards.

The study’s author, Wilfrid Laurier University economics professor David Johnson, compared the provincially standardized EQAO test scores of students from schools in similar socio-economic backgrounds.

{mosimage}TORONTO - With the abrupt cancellation of what would have been the first public meeting of embattled Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees since January, parents have been “shut out” of sharing power with the board, say two trustees.

Trustees John Del Grande and Rob Davis had set up an Aug. 24 meeting at the Catholic Education Centre for trustees to meet with parent and Catholic community groups. But provincially appointed board supervisor Norbert Hartmann revoked permission for the trustees, working under the name Association of Catholic Trustees, to use the board's headquarters.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees will be meeting Aug. 24 for their first public meeting since having their powers stripped from them by a provincial supervisor.

Trustees John del Grande and Rob Davis set up the meeting to be held at the Catholic Education Centre on Sheppard Avenue East at 7 p.m.

“It’s to give parents and students an opportunity to have an influence on decisions made by the board and make sure their voices are heard,” Davis told The Catholic Register.