poverty in our schools · best wishes to you as you come to the end of your school year. god bless...

Summer 2013 • Volume 16 • Issue 3

POVERTY IN OUR SCHOOLS

Things make sense when the right pieces

come together

FAITH PLANNERS1 2 3 4

5 6 7 89 10 11 12

13 14 15

Working together with you to produce quality student agendas.

www.faithstudentplanners.com1.800.558.8604 x281

EDITORDeirdre Kinsella Biss

ART DIRECTORAnia Czupajlo

ADVERTISING & SALESJohn NijmehGaby Aloi

CONTRIBUTORSDr. Sonia Mastrangelo, Dawn Wemigwans, Jennifer Gran, Darlene Ciuffetelli Parker PhD, Dr. Mark G McGowan, Frank Kewin, Lois Peterson, Arnav Agarwal, Nevena Urosevic, Linda Staudt, Cathy Horgan

CPCO STAFF

Carole Allen, President [email protected] | ext. 22

Paul Lacalamita, Executive Director [email protected] | ext. 23

Deirdre Kinsella Biss, Communications Coordinator [email protected] | ext. 38

Michael Schmitt, Protective Services Coordinator [email protected] | ext. 27

Marcelle DeFreitas, Professional Learning Coordinator [email protected] | ext. 37

Gaby Aloi, Manager of Corporate Operations [email protected] | ext. 26

Vanessa Kellow, Professional Learning Assistant [email protected] | ext. 31

Maria Cortez, Administrative Assistant [email protected] | ext. 32

Bessy Valerio, Receptionist [email protected] | ext. 21

Ania Czupajlo, Sr. Graphic Designer [email protected] | ext. 25

John Nijmeh, Advertising Manager [email protected] | ext. 28

Chris Jung, IT Supervisor [email protected] | ext. 34

Jay Jung, IT Support [email protected] | ext. 24

IN THIS ISSUESummer 2013 • Volume 16 • Issue3

We thank all those who contributed to this issue.Please note, however, that the opinions and views expressed are those of the individual contributors and are not necessarily those of CPCO. Similarly, the acceptance of advertising does not imply CPCO endorsement.

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40035635

ON THE COVER

Poverty In Our SchoolsCollage by Ania Czupajlo

CONTACT USThe Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario2300 Yonge Street, Suite 3030Toronto, Ontario M4P 1E4

Toll Free 888 621 9190 Phone 416 483 1556Fax 416 483 [email protected]

Scan me with your smartphone!

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Poverty in Our Schools: Did You Know? | 4

Resilient Children in the Face of Poverty | 8

St. David Catholic School | 12

Leadership in Tight Times | 16

Instimacy, an Emerging Poverty | 22

CPCO Award Recipients | 40

KEEPING YOU INFORMED

What's in Your Backpack? | 26

Private Member’s Bill Proposes to Amend the

Criminal Code to Address Cyberbullying | 30

A Closer Look at Differentiated Instruction | 33

Master of Education Degree: Created Equal? | 37

IN EVERY ISSUE

The Path of Resilience | 2

Leading in a Year of Challenge and Change | 3

People of Courage, People of Hope: Archbishop

Neil McNeil | 20

Paying It Forward | 29

8 22 20

FROM THE PRESIDENT Carole Allen

The Path of Resilience

It has been a privilege to serve as President of the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario for the past year. What a year it has been!

We have been called upon as never before, to be models of resil-iency for our school communities in dealing with the political land-scape and the unprecedented situation with our contracts that resulted from the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Bill 115. Fortunately, as I write this article, I can tell you that our advocacy efforts have resulted in the creation of a working group with the Ministry of Education, where we will have a meaning-ful place at the table to discuss our terms and conditions of employment. Updates will be forthcoming as we meet within the coming weeks.

Despite the tensions and the difficul-ties faced this year, I am very proud of our membership, and of the way that you have carried out your vocation as Catholic school leaders. Your students and your school community have relied on you for consistency, stability and hope and I know that you have done an out-standing job in meeting their high expectations.

One positive outcome of the situation we have faced this year, has been the strengthening of our partnerships within the education sector. Our Catholic partners in the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association (OCSTA), the English Catholic Council of Directors of Education (ECCODE) and the Ontario Supervisory Officers’ Association (OCSOA) have been extremely supportive of our organization and I wish to thank them for their wise counsel and their recognition of the importance of school leaders. Another group of partners who have contributed greatly to our resiliency as a principals’ association is the Ontario Principals’ Council (OPC) and the Association des directions et directions adjointes des écoles franco-ontarienne (ADFO). We have spent many hours together developing our advocacy plans and supporting one another.

It has been a wonderful learning opportunity for me to visit local associations across the province. There is no better way to get to

know your issues than by visiting you in your region of Ontario, and to see first-hand the amazing work that you and your board are doing as you serve the needs of your students. I appreciated the passion and conviction with which you shared your stories with me as it has allowed me to advocate on your behalf, with authenticity and a clear understanding of the challenges faced by school leaders, particularly this year.

I would like to thank both the CPCO profes-sional staff and the office staff for their sup-port. Executive Director Paul Lacalamita, Protective Services Coordinator Michael Schmitt, Communications Coordinator Deirdre Kinsella Biss and Professional Learning Coordinator Marcelle DeFreitas

have all provided support and guidance to me in my role as President. This organization has much to offer our members, and it is through the hard work that occurs in the background by this small group of dedicated people that we can continue to support you through service and advocacy.

My goal this year was to keep our students at the forefront of our discussions and our decision-making, as they are the reason we became educators. I know that your students are the reason that you continue to work tirelessly in leading your school community, and they will always be your focus.

Best wishes to you as you come to the end of your school year. God bless you for the mission that you carry out as a school leader.

The leader is the guardian of unity. He or she must thirst for unity and work for it day and night. For this, the leader must not fear conflict, but rather accept it and strive to be an instrument of reconciliation.

~ Jean Vanier, Community and Growth

2 Principal Connections • Summer 2013• Volume 16 • Issue 3

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Paul Lacalamita

Leading in a Year of Challenge and Change

Last September, I assumed the role of CPCO’s Executive Director. Since that time, change has been a constant for our organization and its members. In eight short months, we welcomed two new CPCO professional staff, we moved office locations, we adopted new hardware and software that forms the infrastructure of our IT capacity, and we’ve had to prepare for the changes concurrent with a new premier and minister of education.

The legislation for Ontario Not-For-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) has consumed much time, energy and resources this year. The change in governance demanded by the pending legislation for not-for-profit organizations has created an appropriate next step in CPCO’s development as a provincial organization. It is clear that we must establish a dynamic new working relationship between our elected provincial Executive Council, which governs the decisions and actions of CPCO, and local principal/vice-principals’ associations and their elected executives. Changes in CPCO’s by-laws passed by resolution at the AGM will amend our governing documents to ensure that CPCO is in compliance with the ONCA especially with regards to the definition of ‘member’ and the voting privileges thereof.

CPCO was significantly involved in the fallout of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and as a result was heavily invested in member advocacy, reacting to changes to principal/vice-principal terms of employment imposed by the MOU. It is still CPCO’s contention that by entering into the Ontario English Catholic Teacher Association (OECTA) MOU, the ministry failed to consider the representations of CPCO members. This was an infringement of our members’ rights and ignored the ministry’s own Policy and Procedure Memorandum 152. Advocacy reached the point of a potential legal Charter challenge against the government by the three principal associations in Ontario: CPCO, the Association des directions et directions adjointes des écoles franco-ontariennes (ADFO) and the Ontario Principals’ Council (OPC). Discussions with the government are currently ongoing and we are hopeful that a resolution can be reached involving CPCO, the ministry and our

members' employers. CPCO will continue to keep you informed regarding this issue as events unfold.

This year’s Executive Council funded a detailed presentation to celebrate CPCO’s 15-year history. This special compilation was done by former CPCO Executive Director Lou Rocha and will help preserve the events and people in our organization’s history. You can view this all-important historical presentation and our other

presentations at: youtube.com/cpcotoronto.

In this issue of our magazine, CPCO addresses the troubling reality of poverty in our schools. In a project entitled: Do You See What I See? CPCO communicates the lived reality of our members dealing with poverty in their schools. Poverty takes many forms: financial, emotional, mental, physical and spiritual, to name a few.

Our hope is to raise a provincial awareness of this debilitating issue and this fall ignite a conversation about next steps for our partners, our members, their Catholic schools and the children in them. Our members’ stories will be shared on our website in July 2013.

Through ref lective practice CPCO will continue to provide meaningful and relevant services to the Catholic principals and vice-principals in our province. It has been my privilege to work with your Executive Council (Board of Directors) to continue to create a synergy that evolves from traditions and practices of yesteryear to decisions and actions that respond to today’s leadership challenges within Catholic education. It has been a truly great experience to work with CPCO President Carole Allen and I wish her every success in her work next year. I would also like to welcome Andre Potvin, from Ottawa Catholic District School Board, who will serve as CPCO 16th President commencing in July.

As another school year comes to a close, CPCO will continue to advocate for our members with the ministry and will attempt to reach a resolution in the process of negotiating terms and conditions of employment for principals and vice-principals. Let us hope that the events of last July are never repeated and that lessons have been learned which emphasize trust and relationship as the key component to working through difficult change.

CPCO communicates the lived reality of

our members dealing with poverty in their

schools.

Principal Connections • Summer 2013 • Volume 16 • Issue 3 3

POVERTY IN OUR

SCHOOLS

Poverty is not a destiny.~ Dr. Avis Glaze

• 639,000 Canadian children still live in poverty; 412,000 of those in Ontario

• One in ten Canadian children continue to live in poverty, while one in four children living in First Nations communities grows up in poverty

• Thirty-eight per cent of food bank users in Canada are children under 18; 149,000 Ontario children used the food bank in 2010

• One in three low-income children lives in families where at least one parent works full-time year round

• One in four Canadian workers is in a low-wage job earning less than $13.32 per hour

• Almost half (47%) of Ontario children in families who had recently immigrated to Canada in 2005, were living in poverty

• Housing is the single largest expense for low- and modest-income families. One in five tenant households (261,000 households) in Ontario paid more than 50% of their income towards shelter costs in 2005.

• In 2010, about 6.5% of Ontario population were receiving social assistance, which is slightly above the average for the past fifty years. Of those receiving, almost half were a single parent and their children.

~ Facts from 2011 Report Card

Revisiting Family Security In Insecure Times

Did You Know?When Jesus predicted His disciples would always have the poor with them, He didn’t mention they would be invisible - unseen, unheard and unthinkable in the political arena.

~ Michael Swan, The Catholic Register

Nearly 1 in 7 children still live in poverty.~ 2012 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty

Campaign 2000

Many low-income families and their children, compared to middle-income or upper-income families in Ontario and Canada, may experience some of the following:• Live with insufficient and often poor quality of food for many

months of the year• Are at greater risk of poor health and a shorter lifespan than people

with medical benefits and resources to obtain medical interventions• Live in poor quality of housing because of rental affordability, or

become at risk of sleeping in homeless shelters or on city streets• Must regularly make choices or trade-offs between staples,

(such as paying rent or bills) and feeding their family• Cannot fully participate in society or their community, com-

pared with middle-class people who take these opportunities for granted, with disposable income for travel, recreation, etc.

• Are at greater risk not only of suffering more, due to anxiety and pain, but less likely to have the means to access counselling or assistance, especially in rural areas

• May access lower quality schools with fewer extra-curricular op-portunities limited by fundraising realities (fewer computers, play-ground equipment, field trips, library resources, sports teams etc)

• Are more likely to experience poorer working conditions for both students and teachers in low-income schools than in higher income areas

~ Poverty in Canada is Real and Rising

Rainbow Warrior, Nov. 18, 2008


Jesus directly connects our salvation to how we have tended to the needs of the poor, the hungry, the naked, the sick, the least among us. We face that judgment personally and also as a society.

~ The Assembly of Catholic Bishops

Politically, socially and economically the marginal-ized are disappearing from our collective conscious-ness, Byzantine Rite Slovak Catholic Bishop John Pazak told The Catholic Register. The chair of the Association of Catholic Bishops of Ontario’s social affairs commission said the Ontario bishops would like to raise people’s awareness of poverty and hous-ing issues.


Poverty is a critical issue for First Nations communities and for urban Aboriginal people, who now comprise more than half (54%) of the Aboriginal population. In a recent survey on poverty and social exclusion, the 118 Friendship Centres in sites across Canada reported that these very serious issues of poverty and social exclusion affect tens of thousands of children, youth and lone-parent families in their daily lives and have a detrimental impact on their health, social, educational and economic well-being.

~ Revisiting Family Security In Insecure Times

2011 Report Card on Child Poverty in Canada

It’s highly unlikely Ontario will meet its own poverty-reduction targets in 2013, food bank use has hit record levels and Ontario’s bishops are worried that decent housing has become a distant dream for too many people.


OntariO DeprivatiOn inDex

Items necessary for a household to have a standard of living above the poverty level:1. Being able to get dental care if needed.2. Replace or repair broken electrical goods such as a stove or

toaster.3. Being able to buy modest presents for family/friends at least

once per year.4. Appropriate clothes for job interviews.5. Having friends or family over for a meal at least once a month.

6. Fresh fruit and vegetables every day.7. Being able to get around your community, either by car or bus

pass.8. Hobby or leisure activity.9. Meat, fish or vegetarian equivalent at least every other day.10. Having a home or apartment free of pests, such as cockroaches,

bedbugs and mice.~ As cited in Campaign 2000 Report Card on

Child and Family Poverty in Ontario - 2012

Schools are however, deeply affected by the strengths and limitations children bring with them, and these are, in turn, deeply affected by the circumstances in which children grow up.

~ Ben Levin, Forward - Ciuffetelli Parker & Flessa

Poverty and Schools in Ontario, 2011, pg. 9


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Building Better Schools Together Institute

October 17–19 Toronto

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21st Century Skills 2-Day Workshop

October 28–29 Ottawa

Ensure your students are prepared to step up, both as better learners and as the new generation of productive global citizens. Learn teacher-friendly strategies to utilize problem-based learning, clear communication, and metacognitive reflection for inspiring and engaging students.

Redefining Fair 2-Day Workshop

November 19–20 Toronto

Learn how to put differentiation into action with instructional solutions that are comprehensive, practical, clear, and effective. Gain strategies and examples of assessment methods to improve student learning and enable all students to realize their potential.

Pyramid of Behavior Interventions 2-Day Workshop

November 21–22 Toronto

Create a learning environment where all students are set up for success. Walk through the essential implementation steps created by combining the principles of Professional Learning Communities at WorkTM and pyramid response to intervention with the tenets of effective behavioral interventions.

Will Richardson

Cheryl Lemke

William M. Ferriter

Garfield Gini-Newman

Tom Hierck

Tom Hierck

Ainsley B. Rose

François Massé

Kenneth C. Williams

Karen Branscombe

Anthony Muhammad

Wayne Hulley

Damian Cooper

12945_CPCO_CAN FallEvents.indd 1 5/17/13 4:40 PM

Resilient ChildRen in the FaCe oF PoveRty

- from Plight to Possibility -

Dr. Sonia Mastrangelo, Assistant Professor Faculty of Education and Department of Interdisciplinary StudiesLakehead University

When we think about children living in poverty, Canada does not typically come to mind. However, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada’s child poverty rate is at 15.1 per cent, and our country ranks near the bottom of the list among other industrialized nations (see Table 1). Access to adequate food and water are basic necessities for any child. Yet, so many start their school day with the harsh reality of feeling hungry.

Table 1: The Conference Board of Canada www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/society/child-poverty.aspx

Research shows that there are clear links between child hunger and overall development, both of which impact future socioeconomic status (Hay, 2000). According to Fleury (2008), children who experience persistent poverty are at higher risk of suffering health problems, developmental delays and behaviour disorders. They tend to attain lower levels of education and are more likely to live in poverty as adults. When our children attend school hungry or poorly nourished, their energy levels, memory, problem-solving skills, creativity, concentration and behaviour are all negatively impacted (Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, 2008). In addition, they are more susceptible to moment-to-moment metabolic changes (Sorhaindo and Feinstein, 2006) that affect their cognitive

ability and overall performance. The repercussions of food insecurity are numerous and statistics warn us that the problem is rising. In 2004-2005, 10 per cent of Canadian households experienced food insecurity, and by 2007-2008, the number had risen to 15.5 per cent (Statistics Canada, 2010). Food Banks Canada reported a total of 882,000 Canadians using food banks in the month of March 2012, with 40 per cent of these users being children (as cited in Statistics Canada, 2012). American psychologist Abraham Maslow reminds us that the first basic need in the Hierarchy of Needs model is our human physiological needs, followed by safety, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html


The implementation of meal programs in our Canadian schools has been one response to the issue of child hunger/malnourishment. However, the issue of poverty has far reaching detrimental effects that extend beyond childhood hunger to include social exclusion, inadequate shelter and mental health challenges (such as depression). When a group of Canadian children in Grade 4 and 5 were asked to voice their perspectives and to define poverty their responses included:

• Not being able to have friends sleep over because we can’t buy snacks or give breakfast

• Getting a basket from the Santa Fund• Not having breakfast sometimes• Being teased for the way you are

dressed.• Sometimes it’s hard because my mom

gets scared and she cries (Albanese, 2010).

Yet in spite of the statistics and potentially long-lasting negative effects of child pov-erty, some children demonstrate resilience and baff le researchers because they are the ‘outliers’ who beat the odds in the face of adversity.

Resilience has been studied in the context of child development and has been applied to childhood poverty, poverty over the life course and the intergenerational transmission of poverty. The resilience of young children may serve as a tool for examining the ways in which they are able to overcome the negative outcomes of poverty and prevent its transfer within families, households and communities (Boyden & Cooper, 2007).

Historically, the notion of resilience first entered the health sciences from applied physics and engineering, where it signifies the ability of materials to bounce back from stress and resume their original shape or condition. In medicine the term characterized the recovery of patients from physical traumas such as surgery or accidents. Somewhat later, it was adopted into psychological and social research to indicate an individual’s capacity to recover from, adapt to, and/or remain strong in the face of adversity (Boyden & Cooper, 2007, p. 1).

Resiliency involves the following elements:1. good outcomes despite high-risk status;2. sustained competence under threat; and

3. recovery from trauma (Masten, 1991).

Contrary to popular belief, resilience is not a personality trait nor something ge-netically predetermined at birth (Vine, Hall, Gardner, & Molloy, 2010). Instead, resilience involves a complex interaction of many features at all levels of the individ-ual and environment. Hence, children’s resilience is located within the nature-nurture discourse, and is inf luenced by their interplay (Rutter, 2002).

Why do only some children exhibit resil-ience in the face of poverty? There is a large body of research exploring a number of interrelated factors that may affect the resiliency of children including genetics, relationships, hobbies and even age.

Although resiliency itself is not a personal-ity trait, nor is it inherited, genetic compo-nents such as intelligence, temperament and even physical appearance are. They can make a difference in the way a person handles or understands a situation and in how they are treated by others (Werner, 2000). There is little evidence to suggest that high intelligence alone attributes to resiliency. However, most longitudinal studies on resilient children report a posi-tive correlation between high levels of intelligence and the ability to overcome adversity (Masten, 2001; Werner, 2000; Trujillo Moehr Smith, 2012). Using data from over a dozen longitudinal studies, Werner (2000) reported that characteris-tics of positive temperament such as activ-ity level, sociability and low emotionality are among some of the protective factors

observed repeatedly in children who coped well in adverse situations. Although temperament does have a strong genetic base, childbearing practices and attachment relationships can have a major inf luence on temperament. Both nature and nurture play an integral role in shaping a child’s temperament, which in turn affects their ability to cope and deal with threatening or stressful situations such as living in poverty.

Both nature and nurture play an integral role in shaping

a child’s temperament, which in turn affects their

ability to cope and deal with threatening or stressful

situations such as living in pOvertY.


In addition to the caregiver/parent-child relationship, friendships also serve a significant role in the capacity for children to develop resilience. If children have a secure network of healthy friendships, than they are better able to cope with the hardships that accompany poverty. Teachers can also encourage resiliency in children. Borman and Overman (2004) report that having access to a good role model has been shown to increase the likelihood of resiliency. Seccombe (2002) suggests that for youth, teachers often play a critical role in providing this form of social support. Teachers who express excitement about children’s learning and academic achievement are contributing to their sense of accomplishment (Trujillo Moehr Smith, 2012). In a longitudinal study of children on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, almost all those who were deemed high-risk yet developed resiliency had acquired a special skill or hobby that gave them a sense of pride (Seccombe, 2002). A survey was conducted on children who exhibited resiliency to uncover what factors helped them manage their difficult situations. One particular child noted that sports and hobbies kept him from facing the hard times and dwelling on them (Vine et al, 2010). Evidently, having an alternate focus, such as a hobby, can serve as a protective factor contributing to resiliency.

Unsurprisingly, no one protective factor alone can account for the likelihood that a child living in poverty will develop resil-iency, or when compared to other children living in similarly adverse environments.

As long as the balance between stressful life events and protective factors is favourable, successful adaptation is possible even for young children who live in high-risk conditions, such as poverty. However, when stressful life events outweigh the protective factors, even the most resilient children can develop problems.

Werner, 2000, p.128

When considering child poverty, policymakers should not be too concerned about examining a child’s functioning and his/her ability to harness resources to overcome adversity. Instead, the focus needs to remain on targeting poverty reduction and bringing about systemic changes to ameliorate the lives of children and their families. Children living in poverty cannot be expected to develop resiliency and to use their own resources to support themselves through crisis. Boyden and Cooper (2007) remind us that:

Major players in the field of poverty reduction tend to adopt a default position that individualizes that which should, in fact, involve structural or collective effort for change in most circumstances. Resilience researcher Michael Ungar (2005) articulates the reasons for concern: The discourse of resilience has been co-opted by proponents of a neo-conservative agenda that argues if one person can survive and thrive, then shouldn’t the responsibility for success be on all individuals within populations at risk to do likewise?

Although we cannot assume that resiliency alone can eradicate the detrimental effects of poverty nor halt the intergenerational transmission of poverty, we do know that resilient children are role models in our schools. They remind us of our Gospel values and challenge us to continuously ref lect upon our actions as Catholic leaders. The research indicates that children are more susceptible to the effects of poverty than adults and that children living in poverty often go unnoticed because they are keen on hiding their circumstances for fear of social exclusion and embarrassment. Consequently, it is critical that we revisit child poverty in our schools and communities and develop actions and policies to assist our families in need.

Why do only some children exhibit resilience in the face of poverty?


The Ontario’s Leadership Framework (OLF) 2012 identifies the school-level and system-level leadership practices that have been shown, through research and professional practice, to have the greatest impact on student achievement and well-being. For more information, go to: www.education-leadership-ontario.ca/content/framework

The IEL brings together school, district and system leaders to explore leading-edge thinking on education leadership.

What’s New on APPLIKI?

APPLIKI is a web-based clearinghouse through which Ontario districts can share resources and tools to support leadership development. Districts are encouraged to upload leadership products, plans and resources to APPLIKI and to explore how they might tailor the work of other districts for their own use. For more information, go to: appliki.apandrose.com

www.education-leadership-ontario.ca

The Safe and Accepting Schools Toolkit Project supports school and system leaders with the implementation of a bullying prevention program and the whole-school approach to creating and maintaining a positive school climate. For more information, go to: live.iel.immix.ca/safeandacceptingschools

The Self-Assessment Tools are aligned with the leadership practices of the OLF 2012 which enable potential and practicing school leaders to assess their practices in reference to effective leadership practices and personal leadership resources required for leadership positions in the province of Ontario. For more information, go to: live.iel.immix.ca/content/self-assessment-tools-background

THE ONTARIO LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK 2012

A School and System Leader’s Guide to Putting Ontario’s Leadership

Framework into Action


St. DaviD CathOliC SChOOlA School Built on Resilience and Community

Dawn Wemigwans, Principal, St. David Catholic School Jennifer Gran, Junior Grade Teacher, St. David Catholic School

What does St. David Catholic School do differently?

It is through positive community partnerships and a relationship-building focus that St. David Catholic School creates an environment that supports student engagement and builds resiliency skills. St. David teachers and staff work diligently to provide a friendly, safe and welcoming school atmosphere that is inclusive to all families, students and community members. The school’s vision is based on a holistic model of education that incorporates spiritual, emotional, physical and academic strengths into the curriculum. It is through this integrated focus of academics, athletics, health and social services, youth and community development, and community engagement that a healthier, stronger community focus is possible.

a healthy, nutritional Start to every Day

St. David provides a full breakfast program every school day, with educational assistants preparing over 42,000 breakfasts a year for

staff and students. As the academic day begins, staff eat breakfast with the children. The program fosters a welcoming environment that is non-stigmatizing and encourages self-esteem and respect. Holy Trinity Men’s Club, Better Beginnings Better Futures and Breakfast Clubs of Canada make this program possible.

Core French and native language programs

From grades 4 to 8, all students have the option of choosing Core French or the Native as a Second Language Program. The school’s Core French program aims to expose students to more spoken French. The program encourages students to think about ethnic diversity and stereotypes, and includes student ref lection on their learning, self- and peer-evaluation, and strategies to enrich learning and communication.

The Native Language program at St. David Catholic School is not intended exclusively for Native students from First Nation communities. The program is open to all students who want to learn

ST. DAVID CATHOLIC SCHOOL is located in the Donovan inner-city neighbourhood in Sudbury, Ontario. Sudbury is the fifth largest urban community for Aboriginal people in the province. Demographic information gathered from census material shows high degrees of illiteracy and, single-parent families, and that more than 34 per cent of St. David students are living below the poverty line. Sudbury’s inner-city community also has higher crimes rates associated with prostitution and drug and alcohol abuse and prostitution.

More than 40 per cent of the students registered at St. David Catholic School have self-identified as First Nation, Metis or Inuit, although the school’s true Aboriginal population is much higher. St. David staff and administration encourage families and students to self-identify as Aboriginal.

Currently, there is a 28-year educational gap between First Nations and other Canadians (Officer of the Auditor General of Canada). As the school-aged Aboriginal population grows, we need strategies to help reach these students. Otherwise, the gap will continue to widen.


a Native language and develop a better understanding of the culture of which that language forms part. Non-Native students enrolled in the Native language, Ojibwe, program, enjoy the benefits of cross-cultural education. By learning about a culture that is different from their own, they can expand and enrich their view of the world and gain a better understanding of their own culture. At the same time, students can develop a deeper appreciation of and respect for the identity and traditional values of others.

including First nation traditions and Culture

Local Elder, Vince Pawis, works with St. David students and families interested in First Nation traditional healing, knowledge and understanding. Vince, a traditional Elder from Shawanaga First Nation, has received many teachings, which provide him with strength and wisdom. His sharing of traditional Anishinaabe culture provides knowledge, understanding and appreciation to the school community.

Vince works with individual students, parents and families struggling with life choices and situations in which direction and/or support is needed. He also assists teachers and support staff to present a culturally relevant curriculum. As well, he supports school staff deal with stress and lead a healthy lifestyle. Vince shares an office with the school Native Language teacher, so he is available during the school day.

responding to our Children, Families and Community

The school’s Student Preservation Program is a collaboration between Sudbury Catholic Schools and the Child and Family Centre. The program provides clinical intervention services within a multi-disciplinary process by the Child and Family Centre to referred students. The Program assists students dealing with behavioural, emotional and/or social issues, with the goal of increasing their school performance. Each child has an individual treatment plan, including strengths and weaknesses. These plans are prepared by a qualified clinician, parents, students and the program’s educational assistant, and they provide the basis for interventions at school.

The St. Albert Adult Learning Centre program at the school is intended for adults seeking to improve their reading, writing, math, computer and employability skills. The program is offered in the school building – as an opportunity for family members and parents to model the importance of education and being a life-long learner to their children and the youth of the community.

Community partnerships and relationships

The Aboriginal Best Start Hub is another community support service located in the school. The Aboriginal Hub supports Anishinabe culture, values, language, traditions, songs and history. It also fosters the integration of community interaction and celebrations. The Hub has many partnerships in the Aboriginal community that bring


together knowledge, supports, and skills – all sharing a common goal of supporting Aboriginal children and families with parenting programs and activities in a culturally rich learning environment. A new calendar of programs is planned each month and shared with the school community. All families are welcome – both Native and non-Native. Many events are planned in conjunction with the school and are co-facilitated by Hub and school staff.

The Sudbury Better Beginnings Better Futures after-school program, also located in the school, provides free daily child-centred activities and a healthy after school meal for all student participants. The overarching goal and objective of Better Beginnings Better Futures is to offer opportunities that strengthen the ability of communities to respond effectively to the social and economic needs of children and their families.

Better Beginnings also runs a free summer program at the school for community children. This program includes educational supports, athletic opportunities, community field trips and, of course, always healthy food.

The Sudbury Regional Police Services recently joined St. David’s long list of community partnerships. The school’s liaison officer, Denise Fraser, is at the school each week to work with youth in developing positive relationships with the police, and to support students to take responsibility for their actions and make positive life choices.

St. David School teachers work with Laurentian University's School of Education, School of Native Human Services and School

of Social Work, as well as Cambrian College's Department of Child and Youth Workers. The teachers and educational assistants accept students in their classrooms and programs as student teachers, student social workers and student child and youth workers. Mentorship, experience and a multidisciplinary approach to student success and overall well-being are the main goals of these programs.

St. David is one of the province’s schools that received over $75,000 worth of books from the Chapters Indigo Love of Reading Foundation. Grade 4 and 5 teacher, Jennifer Grant, applied for, organized and facilitated this massive undertaking for the academic growth and social betterment of the school’s children.

Teachers and support staff give regularly of their time, energy and finances, but they also give their love, guidance and support to their students. One visit to St. David Catholic School is all it takes to see how much the staff love the children. They care for them, protect them and mentor them into the strong, committed global citizens they know these students can become. Resilient children have a sense of security, better feelings of self worth and cultural esteem and know that their community cares for them and loves them.

It is the honest community partnerships and positive relationships that build an inclusive school community. Strong inclusive communities help to develop resilient youth that can meet future challenges. We are confident that poverty, although an obstacle to future success, is no longer a barrier at St. David Catholic School.

POVERTY is a multi-faceted issue requir-ing the attention of Catholic

leaders in education. How do leaders ensure challenges of poverty do not obscure what it means to be successful in school? As Catholic leaders, how do you ensure that all belong, that all feel valued, that all children and youth feel success, empathy and acceptance through a leadership that is both and at once humble and courageous? My work and research in poverty and education explores the small narra-tive discourses that educational leaders, teachers, families and com-munity members share. These stories become critical counterpoint discussions to the mega-reforms that are traditionally emphasized in schools of mandated policy and scripted curricula. Over the years, I have researched alongside some exceptional leaders who do not shy

away from educating against storied assumptions of children and communities affected by poverty. This is no small feat; rather, it is a difficult challenge and one that must be taken up in today’s world by all leaders. To educate and lead by example against stereotyping and bias of children living poverty, or against any context that marginal-izes our children and youth, is the beginning ray (of hope, faith, and love - notice I did not say charity, I will save that discussion for an-other time), in order to shine light on our world and to help reframe perspective of our society. What happens in our Catholic schools, and how we view the micro-society of children and youth within our school communities, counts tremendously towards a just society. Our beliefs, attitudes and values about students and families living in poverty are directly related to how we lead in schools.

LEADERSHIP IN TIGHT TIMESShining Your Light by Leading Against Storied Assumptions of Children and Youth Affected by Poverty

Darlene Ciuffetelli Parker, PhD Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Brock University

I was pleased when the new Pope took the name Francis. As a little girl learning about our faith, I recall relishing in the images of St. Francis of Assisi, a saint who loved children, who turned toward nature, who lived among those less fortunate. This image drew a sense of contentment as a child because I imagined St. Francis understood deeply people as simple as me. Saint Francis seemed touchable among the untouchables. He was real, as if he could be living alongside each one of us in our every day. Fast forward and it looks as though the new Francis, Pope Francis, is real indeed, a humble man who lives among us, who wants “a poor church that is for the poor” (Toronto Star, March 18, 2013). It is befitting that the topics of humility, empathy, acceptance and belonging characterize our new Pope and the very topic I take up in this discussion – poverty.


What is Poverty?

The province of Ontario has changed significantly over the last 30 years. The gap between low-income and high-in-come earners has increased in the province and many Ontarians are working longer hours. Incomes for the bottom 40 per cent of work-ers have fallen while incomes for those in the middle have stood still. The only significant gains have been made by the wealthiest income earners (Ciuffetelli Parker & Flessa, 2011).

The Campaign 2000 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty of 2011 reports,

The economy has more than doubled size, yet the incomes of families in the lowest decile have virtually stagnated. The gap between rich and poor families has continued to widen, leaving average-income families also struggling to keep up ... At the same time, the younger generation - children of the baby boomers - are struggling more than their parents. They carry a heavy burden ... many young people are unemployed or underemployed (p.1)

What is realized is that the human face of this rising inequality is the prevalence of children living in poverty. And, although there have been many public statements supporting the elimination of child poverty, for more than 20 years, the child poverty rate has not improved (Campaign 2000, 2011). Every month, 770,000 people in Canada use food banks with 40 per cent of those relying on food banks. Today, one in seven children live in poverty in Ontario. That statistic rises to one in four, for Aboriginal children living in extreme poverty (Campaign 2000, 2011). Forty-five per cent of children living below the poverty line have at least one parent working full time, full year, yet the average low-income family lives $7000 per year below the poverty line.1 Rates of poverty are more than double for lone-mother headed households, and children of Aboriginal, racialized and new immigrant families (as cited in Ciuffetelli Parker & Flessa, 2011; Colour of Poverty, 2007). In Ontario, there are over 148,000 children whose families rely on food banks. One in five children have access to licensed child care (Campaign 2000, 2011).

Poverty and How Stereotyping Infiltrates Schools

I emphasize in the research2 how important it is, and how difficult it is too, for educators (and the general public) to avoid viewing students and their families as lacking (Ciuffetelli Parker & Flessa,

2009; Ciuffetelli Parker, Grenville & Flessa, 2011; Ciuffetelli Parker & Flessa, 2011; Ciuffetelli Parker, 2012;

Flessa, Ciuffetelli Parker, Gallagher-Mackay, Becker, 2009; Flessa, Gallagher-

McKay, & Ciuffetelli Parker, 2010). This is referred to as a deficit model (Valencia, 1997)

of thinking about our society and our children. Few are immune to deficit ways of looking at our world because of the very nature of our lived past experiences and the stereotypes that exist in our society. Educators often default to past storied narratives of poverty and, in doing so, hidden biases can act as a filter to help explain the conditions of our society and how it affects education. This kind of filter, however, does not help children and youth who live in poverty or does it give them access to the equal education that they deserve. Poverty needs further and deeper re-f lection by educators and mainstream society alike, because, if not, deficit conceptualizations will essentially keep perpetuating in-equality and the polarization of the rich and the poor. It is important for all educators, and the general public, to reframe thinking and focus on the conditions of poverty rather than blaming children and families who live in poverty.

For educators, students and families in schools, and especially leaders in school boards and school sites, how does the information above translate? How might we begin to reframe our views on poverty? It may be easy for educators to assign blame to families when their students are not performing in school, or it may be very tempting to lower curricular expectations for students. Neither is good in the long run. Ultimately, we need to look at our children, youth and families, and see what is there rather than what is missing (Ciuffetelli Parker & Flessa, 2011).

The difficult question remains: what can educators do about the stark reality of unequal situations in which children grow up? Research reveals that virtually every school in Ontario has poverty within it (People for Education, 2012). For leaders in every school, therefore, it requires that you walk alongside all students, all families, including those living in poverty.

Here are some discerning questions for leaders in school districts and schools, based on findings from the research on poverty and education in Ontario (Ciuffetelli Parker 2010; Ciuffetelli Parker & Flessa, 2011).


For School Administrators, ask yourself:

1. Do you value teacher input/inquiry? How do you support it with the resources necessary, including financial support and time for collaboration of school programming?

2. Do you take time to assess the benefits of the programs already in place that impact poverty and schooling? Are any programs deficit in nature (i.e. blaming parents for not educating their children, treating students and families that are already marginalized as others who are not socialized to middle-class notions of society)? If so, more discernment is needed in what it means to know deeply the context of students and families living in poverty (see for example, Campaign 2000, 2011; Colour of Poverty, 2007; Gorski, 2008; Valencia, 1997)

3. Does your school have hero teachers that are at the brink of burn out? A reliance on hero teachers and excessive workload is unsustainable. As a principal, ask yourself: do you have the support on balancing high expectations for teachers with workload issues?

4. Do you interact with students, parents and families respectfully? Are parents welcomed into the school with grace and humility by you and your staff, administrative assistant, etc., or are there barriers that you might ref lect further on (i.e. invisible signs that block students and parents from contributing to the school community, a closed door policy, or an unwritten rule that implies teachers know best, etc.)?

5. Do you intervene in professional conversations where deficit-based assumptions are left unchallenged?3

6. The research included several examples of how humble and courageous leaders are breaking down barriers, challenging the status quo, and working towards what our findings showed as critical to school success: school leadership; teacher (collaborative) inquiry; school climate and culture, and; making community connections. Which leaves us with the final critical questions: Do you shine your light in order to actively lead against storied assumptions of children and youth affected by poverty? Do you understand them deeply? Do you walk alongside them? And if not now, then when?

For School District Administrators, ask yourself:

1. Have you considered how school policies interact with excessive or contradictory expectations currently placed on teachers? How can you implement and support policies with an emphasis on the ethical standards of practice (Ontario College of Teachers), which are in direct relation to the Catholic expectations of schools?

2. Do you expect explicit statements from schools regarding equity goals? Such expectations should be directly built into school plans.

3. How do you support schools with the resources necessary to meet equity goals? Do you walk the talk?

1Poverty is defined as the low-income cut-off (LICO) line determined by Statistics Canada. LICOs vary by family size and by community size. For more information on LICOs, see the Statistics Canada website at www.statcan.gc.ca 2Research project on poverty (for example, Ciuffetelli Parker, 2010; Ciuffetelli Parker & Flessa, 2011) was funded and supported by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Education. 3Recommendations/questions listed are adapted from Ciuffetelli Parker (2010) and Ciuffetelli Parker & Flessa (2011).


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Had his families plan been fulfilled, Neil McNeil would have spent his life in his father’s blacksmith shop, in Hillsborough, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where Neil was born in 1851. A local schoolmaster changed Neil’s life, when he discovered that the young apprentice blacksmith had a natural aptitude for mathematics and a variety of other subjects. Neil and his younger brother Daniel, the son who had been intended for higher education, were sent to St. Francis Xavier College in Antigonish. Neil graduated in 1869 and began his career as a secondary school teacher in eastern Nova Scotia. It appeared education was in his DNA. In 1872, Bishop John Cameron of Antigonish sent McNeil to Rome, where he studied theology and philosophy and, five years later was ordained for Cameron’s diocese. Upon his return to Canada, Dr. McNeil could speak Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, in addition to his native Gaelic and English.

His rise in the local educational structures and within the Church was meteoric. After founding and editing a local newspaper, The Aurora, while working at St.F.X. as a professor of science and Latin, McNeil was appointed Rector of the University. When he retired from the position, after a serious falling out with Bishop Cameron, in 1891, he served in a Francophone Acadian parish in Cape Breton and then was named Vicar Apostolic, later Bishop of St. George’s, Newfoundland (1895-1910). He virtually built his new diocese with his own hands, drawing on his skills as a blacksmith, stone mason, roofer, electrician, and carpenter, as churches and rectories were created in this sparsely populated frontier along Newfoundland’s Gulf coast. In 1910, the Vatican transferred McNeil across the continent to another frontier, where became the first Archbishop of Vancouver, who had not been a member of a missionary religious order.

Within two years, however, the Vatican sent him to Toronto, where the archbishop had recently died leaving an unfinished legacy of education for priests, the accommodation of immigrants, and reconciliation with the majority Protestant population. McNeil

arrived in Toronto in late December, 1912, and immediately set to work on educational projects that would inf luence all of Ontario and most notably its Catholic school system. His first priority was to complete St. Augustine’s Seminary, which had been founded by his predecessor Fergus Patrick McEvay, and which would train priests in the English language for most of the dioceses in Ontario and for the western mission areas. When it opened in 1913, McNeil expressed the hope that this centre of priestly education “would do much to harmonize the many elements of Canada’s population. Our Church and our Country are both vitally interested in securing this harmony.”

McNeil knew that the tens of thousands of Catholic immigrants pouring into Ontario from what is now Poland, Italy, Belgium, Malta, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, and Christian sections of the Ottoman Empire such as Lebanon, would have to be accommodated by their own national parishes, their own clergy, and in the case of the Ukrainian Catholics, protection within their own distinctive Byzantine Rite. To this end he established new parishes and recruited new priests, but as important made sure that Catholic schools in his Archdiocese (which included the current Catholic school boards of Niagara, Toronto, York, Dufferin-Peel, Durham, and Simcoe-Muskoka) would provide a strong curriculum and guide

A Prophetic Voice for Justice

Dr. Mark G McGowan, Professor of HistorySt. Michael's College, University of Toronto

Archbishop Neil McNeil

PEOPLE OF COURAGE, PEOPLE OF HOPE


“new Canadian Catholic” students into the mainstream of Ontario society and particularly its job market. “In their homes they speak a similar variety of language,” commented McNeil, “but the language of the school is English and the books are Canadian. The teachers know no other language …and the playground is English.”

In Catholic schools McNeil envisioned both an invigorated Church and a united citizenry of Canada. Moreover, in 1914, he became an educational reformer in his own right, investigating was of replacing the teaching of the catechism with a means of catechesis that would move beyond the rote learning to a method which he felt produced more a “distaste for religious principles and pious practices,” than it did a true love of the Church and the truths for which it stood. He spent much of the next 20 years trying to reform the practice of religious education in Catholic schools with little immediate success, except for the brief introduction of religious pedagogy developed by Father Roderick McEachen at the Catholic University of America.

At the end of the Great War (1914-1918) Neil McNeil realized, as did his Episcopal colleagues, that the two great challenges to Catholic schools in Ontario were the lack of public funding to Catholic secondary schools and the inequitable distribution by the Province of corporate and business taxes. In 1871, Egerton Ryerson, created the secondary school as the capstone to his educational reform project that had begun 25 years before. When Catholic educators asked for funding for their high schools, the Government denied the request, indicating that the British North America Act protected denominational educational rights established in law, in 1867, and since high schools did not exist at that time, Catholics had no claim on support for them. This was legal hairsplitting at its finest, given the fact that Quebec had given Protestant High Schools Public funds as a matter of principle. While Catholics might argue that they were entitled to public funds for grades 9 and 10, which had been funded when they were included as the 5th book classes in the old common schools, or when in rural areas they were funded in continuation schools, this was no guarantee of securing funds for the senior grades in high schools.

In 1925, McNeil rallied the bishops and prompted a separate school board in his own diocese, Tiny Township in Simcoe County, to seek a legal decision that might secure public funding for Catholic secondary schools. In the landmark case, “Tiny versus the King,”

the judges split along denominational lines - Protestant over-ruling Catholic - when they decided that the Ontario government was not obliged under Section 93 of the BNA Act to fund Catholic high schools. By 1928, the case was appealed all the way to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the highest court of appeal in the British Empire, which upheld the original decision, claiming that the Ontario Government had the discretionary authority over school funding, but was not constitutionally obliged to do so in this particular circumstance. Although McNeil’s spearheading of this case appeared to be for naught, Catholic schools across the province soon discovered ingenious ways of delivering grades nine and ten, in addition to the unfunded senior grades.

In addressing the problem of the lack of equitable distribution of corporate tax revenues to Catholic schools, McNeil and his fellow bishops took a different tack. Since the 1880s, only Catholic businesses, on a voluntary basis, could direct their taxes to separate schools. McNeil and the bishops sought legislation to allow for a more equitable sharing of all business tax revenue, given the labour of Catholic workers in producing wealth in Ontario’s business and the numerous Catholic shareholders in a variety of corporate ventures across the Province. McNeil approached Toronto millionaire and Catholic businessman, Martin J. Quinn, to head the Catholic Taxpayers association, a lobby group and perhaps the largest Catholic lay activist organization in the Province’s history. Reminiscent of the Catholic Action associations in Europe, the CTA and Quinn, were influential, in 1934, of securing the election of Liberal leader, Mitchell Hepburn as Ontario Premier. The corporate taxation legislation ultimately failed to pass, but McNeil should be remembered in his confidence in the laity to carry on the fight for Catholic schools.

McNeil did not live to see the CTA rise and fall. He died in Toronto, May 25, 1934, at the age of 82. He was remembered fondly by Catholics, Protestants, and non-Christians alike as friend of labour, peacemaker, ecumenist, educator, and spiritual leader. The Chief Rabbi at Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto, eulogized McNeil as “a great soul, indeed a kindly and sympathetic spirit, and yet withal possessed a fine prophetic ardor for the cause of righteousness and justice.” For Catholic education he was the builder of schools, promoter of equality, and a pedagogical innovator, well ahead of his time. For the Canadian Church he may have been one of the most impressive prelates in its history - and one of its most humble.

PEOPLE OF COURAGE, PEOPLE OF HOPE


We Believe that Our StuDentS - anD inDeeD all human BeingS - are WOrthY OF lOve anD BelOnging. We know that behaviours that f low from the experience of love and belonging deepen this core belief and create relationships of authentic intimacy. We also know that these real, authentic relationships nurture and actualize the individual for themselves and for service to the community.

As Catholic educators, we need to turn with courage and confidence toward the growing problem of instimacy and the destructive inf luence it has on our students realizing their hopes and dreams for a life lived in the confidence of love, belonging and community.

I regard instimacy as the pseudo connection of relationships in the virtual and/or three-dimensional world. When the right order in a relationship is inverted, instimacy is the result. If we begin at the end and skip all the real work of building a relationship, based on coming to know, trust, rely, commit and then touch (J. Van Epp, How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk), we miss all the cues that tell us this is a safe, healthy relationship, so that we can proceed, or conversely, be wary that something is not right.

The promise of instant satisfaction of our most basic longings has always been alluring and deceiving. Yet never has it been so readily actualized than in today’s virtual world. Mr. Rogers has a new neighbourhood. And so do our schools. The time is long past when we can hope to know who and what is impacting and influencing the

culture of our school communities by understanding our proximate, physical neighbourhood. Today, the neighbourhood of our schools is without walls and largely without boundaries - physical and emotional.

In this new reality, we are called to leadership. We must embrace the experience of our youth in the virtual environment with courage, conviction and consciousness, recognizing both the promise and the danger of internet relating. We are charged to witness the power of the real and to teach the skills of intimacy.

In the virtual world a cyber smiley or something as simple as LOL can provide the introduction to sharing intimate details that should be kept within the bounds of an established, real-life relationship.”

C. Georgianna, T. Underhill, C. Kelland,HyperStimulation:

Teens, Porn and Online Addictions, pg. 11

While the connection in the virtual environment is often unreal the experience of betrayal is all too real and shaming.

Consider the experience of a young girl seeking affirmation of her beauty and worthiness, trusting an intimate picture of herself to an online friend only to have it shared with her school community and indeed the world. Imagine the power of coercion when this same girl, lured by the threat of exposure, is pressured into sending more photos in quantity and graphic nature.

an emeRging PoveRtyInstimacy

Frank Kewin, PrincipalSimcoe Muskoka CDSB

“A light has come into the world and the darkness will never overcome it.”


Cyber bullying is as real and perhaps more damaging than traditional schoolyard bullying because of the breadth of audience and the permanence of shaming evidence.

Now consider that the average 21-year-old boy will have played 10,000 hours of video games, mostly in isolation. Boys can watch an average of 50 porn clips a week (Zimbardo, The Demise of Guys). In the experience of repeated exposure to machine enhanced sexual arousal (MESA) real-life intimacy pales. Zimbardo proposes that boys’ brains are being digitally rewired for change, novelty, excite-ment and constant arousal, which leaves them not only out of synch in traditional classrooms that are analogue, static and interactively passive, but totally out of synch in romantic relationships that build gradually and slowly. (Zimbardo, Demise of Guys, TED Talk)

Another increasing trend in college males is to self-report shyness. Their experience of shyness is not simply the fear of rejection but the sense of being a fish out of water in one-to-one social interactions, particularly with the opposite sex. They simply don’t know the language of face-to-face contact.

What is so compelling about internet relating and pornography that our youth (and our adult population) is being drawn ever more deeply to it? The internet provides three compelling A’s:

1. access;2. affordability; and 3. anonymity.

Zimbardo proposes that boys are being caught in a new arousal addiction where novelty and difference are required in increasing amounts to satisfy cravings for pleasure. Similarly, Dr. Donald Hilton (American neuro surgeon) in his presentation, River of Fire: Pornography Addiction and the Neuroplastic Brain, reminds us that

“the brain is the source of behaviour, but in turn it is modified by the behaviours that it produces … learning sculpts brain structure” (IITAP Symposium, Feb. 2013.)

A growing cadre of our youth, both boys and girls, are living a poverty of intimacy that self perpetuates as they engage in virtual relationships and experiences of instimacy, where the satisfaction is never enough and their feelings of disconnection in real-world relationships grow proportionately.

As educators, how do we intervene to provide our youth with stable structures and skills of intimacy? How can we compete with the allure of the virtual world? Clearly we are not solely or even primarily responsible for the intimacy skills of our students; parents are their first teachers. However, we are people of inf luence in the lives of our students. If we are to contribute to the formation of Catholic


Graduates who witness through their lives to the values of the Catholic Graduate Expectations we must continue to do our part.

Simply saying no to the internet and the virtual environment is not the answer. However, clear and healthy boundaries around the use of personal electronic devices (PEDs) and the internet in our schools are essential to maintaining and creating space where we can inf luence the relational skills of our students.

Brene Brown, author of Daring Greatly, has devoted 12 years to the study of vulnerability and shame. Brown suggests that shame is the gremlin that says, “You’re not good enough.” Shame eats away at our belief that we are loved and worthy of belonging. Guilt, on the other hand, can be a healthy realization that our behaviour is in contradiction to our core values and leads to remorse, amends and correction. While shame is highly correlated to addiction, depression, violence, aggression, suicide, eating disorders, bullying and self-loathing, guilt is inversely related to these same issues.

As we look at vulnerability and its role in intimacy it is important to clearly differen-tiate the healthy purpose of guilt with the destructive function of shame. The ability to hold something we have done up against who we want to be is incredibly adaptive: uncomfortable but adap-tive. (Brown, TED talk, 2011)

Brown suggests that while shame feels the same for males and females, it is organized differently. For women shame is “this web of unattainable, conf licting and competing expectations of who we are supposed to be and it is a straight jacket” (Brown, TED Talk). For men the straight jacket is different though no less paralyzing. Shame for men is the message, “Do not be perceived as weak.” (Brown, TED Talk)

It is no surprise that virtual relationships create a seemingly safe haven where boys and girls can finally be what they believe they are. In their virtual world they do not have to confront the vulnerability of being finite, limited human beings who share with each other the connection point of being vulnerable, fallible and wholly dependent on each other and God, and therefore capable of empathy.

Vulnerability is not weakness. It is not the inappropriate sharing of our deepest selves with those we do not know. And it is not neediness or desperation for approval. Vulnerability is telling the truth of who we are to those whom we have come to know, trust and rely on. We tell our truth in the confidence that we are worthy of love and belonging.

Brown calls people who are able to be appropriately vulnerable as wholehearted, secure in their identity as being worthy of love and belonging. We call these same people, beloved of God. Wholehearted

people do not have less trauma, tragedy, problems or losses in their lives. However they do have an unshakeable knowledge that they are worthy of love and belonging, and this sustains them. They know that bad things will happen, but their identity is not tied to what happens, or how it happens, or who thinks what about it. (Brown, keynote address, IITAP symposium, Feb. 2013). Vulnerability in Brown’s research is our ultimate measure of courage.

Brown’s research confirms the best of our Catholic Christian tradition. The incarnation of God in Jesus Christ reveals a path of wholehearted vulnerability that we are born to and are called to imitate by letting go of socio cultural norms that place men and women into

boxes of this not that and that stif le connection, empathy and growth in intimacy.

The invulnerability of our youth in their engagement in instimacy in the real and virtual world is clear and concerning. As it should be! Brown suggests that shame grows in the presence of three inf luences: secrecy (akin to the anonymity of the virtual world), silence and judgment.

Empathy is the antidote to shame. When we stand with the longings of our youth and say truthfully, “Me too.” without judgment of the person, we dispel shame and open the

door to real connection, worthiness and belonging.

Intimacy is a set of skills that when understood, taught, practised and improved grows new neuro networks in the human brain that create the yes of worthiness and belonging, and dispel the darkness of isolation and shame. Daniel Goleman (author of Social Intelligence) in his foreword to Siegel’s book Mindsight notes that,

the ability to know our own minds as well as to sense the inner world of others (empathy) may be the singular human talent, the key to nurturing healthy minds and hearts.

Mindsight, foreword

Teachers introduced to Mindsight have learned to teach with the brain in mind and are reaching and teaching their students in deeper and more lasting ways.

Mindsight, pg. 7

Empathy can be taught and the isolated mind can heal.

As educators, we possess a unique opportunity to dispel shame and help form wholehearted people, courageous in vulnerability, connected regardless of the what happens of life and secure in the knowledge that they are worthy of love and belonging.

Vulnerability is our

ultimate measure of

courage.


What’s in Your Backpack?

Lois Peterson, Principal, Christ the King School, Waterloo CDSBPresident, Nutrition for Learning

EACH DAY WE GREET OUR STUDENTS NOT kNOWING WHAT

ExPERIENCES THEY ENDURED THE NIGHT BEFORE. What envi-

ronments did they leave to come to school? Are they blessed with the basic needs

that every individual should have: the right to a roof over their head, food on the

table, a bed to sleep in and someone who cares for them. At school we strive for

excellence, which is often reflected in EQAO and CCAT scores and report card

data. But for a student who lacks the basic life necessities, does this represent their

reality? In this article we will look at the parameters of poverty and what we need

to understand it … and do something about it.

BR

IDG

ING

THE

GA

PPoverty Awareness and Action Task Team

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board decided to do something about this growing concern. In 2010, we established the Poverty Awareness and Action Task Team to raise awareness of poverty and its effect on learning, and to develop recommendations, strategies and supports for those in our schools affected by poverty.

As part of the task team, we formed a Poverty and Learning Committee, drawing on a dy-namic membership of teachers, support staff, administration, leadership and the community. Members met monthly and benefitted from a Bridges Out of Poverty workshop. We conducted research through literature searches, discus-sions with community leaders and meetings with other school boards. We embraced the book A Framework for the Understanding of Poverty, by Ruby K. Payne, Ph. D.

The Waterloo region is home to the University of Waterloo, Wilfred Laurier University and Conestoga College for Trades and Technology. Young people come to the region from all over the world for its excellent educational programs.

But like many Ontario communities, the region has experienced a number of hardships as businesses close or downsize. Over the last few years, a large number of traditional industries

and employers have closed their doors. And although we’ve recently been put on the global market by Toyota and high tech companies like Blackberry, these industries can be impacted by an uncertain economy. When businesses are affected, unemployment rises and families may experience financial and emotional stress. Many of our families have fallen into the poverty gap. As educators we have seen this in the eyes of our students

Dr. Payne has more than 30 years of experience as a professional educator. She shares her insights about the impact of poverty in education and offers educators, and other professionals, practical strategies to assist them as they work and interact with individuals from poverty. Through her book, our committee formulated a definition of poverty.

Poverty is relative (in comparison to others) and is experienced first on a personal level.

Ruby K.

Payne defines two kinds of poverty, generational and situational. Generational is having lived in poverty for two or more years. Situational is living in poverty due to an event. This can be the result of an event such as a loss of job, divorce or death of a family to name only a few... Students from poverty need to have at least two sets of behaviours from which to choose - one set for the streets and one set for school and work.

Dr. Ruby K. Payne. 1

recognize the importance of compassionate leadership. • Discern values, experience and passion for equity

through the interview process for principal, staff and program head selection.

• Select experienced principals for high poverty schools earlier in the year to allow for preparation and mentoring, and examine staff transfer policies to allow for movement of strong and/or struggling teachers in and out of high poverty schools.

• Include a strong focus on Preferential Option for the Poor with formalized mentoring groups and other learning forums for principals and leaders.

a system-level staff person with the preferential Option for the poor as their sole responsibility.• Educate other staff members to be trainers for Bridges

Out of Poverty. • Implement professional development opportunities

for all staff. • Promote and develop community partnerships, ex-

plore and access available grant opportunities and advocate with senior management, school admin-istration, trustees, etc. on behalf of the economi-cally marginalized.

BRIDGING THE GAP

The Poverty and Learning Committee formulated a number of recommendations for our board. Here are some of the recommendations, which may be of interest to others looking to bridge the poverty gap in our schools.


raise the awareness of poverty and its effects on learning.• Identify and train staff members to be the trainers for

Bridges Out of Poverty. • Provide Bridges Out of Poverty training to senior ad-

ministrators, trustees, principals, consultants, chap-lains and other school leaders.

• Follow up with Bridges out of Poverty training for all staff, including teachers, educational assistants, ad-ministrative assistants, librarian technicians, special education advisory committees (SEAC), etc.

embed the preferential Option for the poor within our value system in order to inform our policies, procedures, structures and decisions. • Consider budget decisions for their effect on eco-

nomically diverse learning communities including such issues as: the specific economic needs of smaller schools in high poverty areas.

• Examine how special education and support staff, youth care workers and psycho-educational assess-ments are allocated, and collect data that can be used to further support these areas.

• Realize that there are differing capabilities of our various school communities for fundraising initiatives.

review and expand the pyramid of interventions for behaviours to recognize poverty as a mitigating factor.• Recognize that a larger percentage of marginalized

students receive consequences for their inappropriate behaviours.

• Revise the process of accommodation reviews to con-sider how the decision of school boundaries can avoid the creation of predominately high poverty schools.

• Actively seek out voices of members of the economically marginalized communities in these processes.

provide opportunities for recognition, celebration and the sharing of effective charitable practices within the system. • Recognize education is the primary bridge out of

poverty for children and adults alike. • Strengthen the connections between adult education

programs and elementary and secondary schools, placing a focus on high poverty areas.

• Create an ongoing, equitable learning opportunities committee.

The Mission of Nutrition

In addition to considering these recommendations, I think it is important that we look at an initiative that has directly responded to the call of poverty in the Waterloo region and is positively impacting the physical, cognitive, behavioural and academic needs of the region’s children and youth - Nutrition for Learning (NFL).

Research proves that students coming to school hungry don’t perform well in the classroom, have difficulty concentrating, display behavioural problems, are less alert and are often lethargic. Alarmingly one in ten children arrive at our schools without breakfast or enough food to sustain them throughout the full day of school. Poverty affects about 10, 000 local children.

Nutrition for Learning’s mission is to enhance learning by ensuring that each student attends school well nourished. A registered charitable organization since 1997, NFL supports community-based nutrition programs committed to improving the learning capacity, health and well being of children and youth in Waterloo region.

Starting with just eight programs, NFL has grown from 84 programs to 134 community-based breakfast, morning meal and lunch programs in the last three years. We have more than 1300 dedicated volunteers that coordinate student nutrition programs in both elementary and secondary schools throughout the region. Through NFL, 9,600 children are directly impacted daily.

In the Waterloo region NFL is most fortunate to have forged a number of important community partnerships. For instance, Tim Hortons volunteers support eight of our programs and also supply food and product. The BLM Group helped us secure a new warehouse facility

- and home - to match our growing needs. Heffner Motors generously provided a vehicle so that we could respond to our many programs and move products to and from our new warehouse. And RBC has provided financial and strategic support. Breakfast can make the difference in the day of our students. Mother Teresa teaches us through her example that,

Faith in action is love, and love in action is service. By transforming that faith into living acts of love, we put ourselves in contact with God himself, with Jesus our Lord.2

So I ask you, what’s in your backpack?

references 1 A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Ruby K. Payne, PH. D, fourth revised edition (2005), published by aha! 2 Mother Teresa, Heart of Joy, (2001) Garborg’s, Published by Garborg’s, P.O. Box 20132, Bloomington, MN 55420


Paying it Forward

“We make a living by what we do, but we make a life by what we give.” As a Catholic secondary school gradu-ate and the product of an amal-gamation of community service experiences, I believe Winston Churchill’s words encapsulate my vision and drive to make a difference.

I spent four of my formative years at Father Michael Goetz Catholic Secondary School in Mississauga, and I am currently a third-year stu-dent in the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) program at McMaster University in Hamilton. My Catholic schooling was in-strumental to my journey of growth and develop-ment. The values ingrained in me significantly impacted who I am and what I do today.

The supportive, encouraging environment, the value-based educa-tion and the exposure to community service were essential in mould-ing me into a more effective volunteer, leader, youth advocate and an agent of positive change. Moreover, they fuelled a passion in me to continue exploring myself further, while kick-starting a post-second-ary experience through which I continue to grow and give back to my student, local and global communities.

taKing the Challenge tO inDia

While I’ve had the opportunity to take on the challenge of com-munity-based service in a number of ways through both my high school and post-secondary experience, my exposure to humanitar-ian outreach in India is of particular note.

There I experienced the harsh realities of vil-lage life on my visits to Mother Teresa’s

homes in India. Seeing the stark pov-erty, destitution of the elderly and

abandonment of children with disabilities in these communi-ties left an indelible mark on me and was the catalyst respon-sible for inducing an awareness and sensitivity to my environ-

ment and an understanding of other’s needs. I volunteered in the

semi-urban villages in New Delhi, India for several summers, working with

local populations, particularly children and youth, on literacy and health-awareness pro-

grams, and vocational skill development.

KnOWing We Can maKe a DiFFerenCe

While my service-based experiences have opened me up to new perspectives and insights, they also allow me to see the impact of my actions and the difference I can make in the lives of others. This motivates me to move forward and continue propagating change. And encourage others to do the same!

As high school or post-secondary school students, we have numerous opportunities to make a difference within our school, local, provincial, national and global communities. There are opportunities that meet various interests and skill sets, but we can also take these endeavours as an opportunity to step outside our comfort zone and try something new.

Community service and civic engagement is a journey of self-discovery as much as it is a journey of philanthropy. Start your journey today!

Arnav Agarwal, Bachelor of Health Sciences IIIMcMaster University

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

~ Theodor Geisel


Nevena Urosevic, Student-at-LawBorden Ladner Gervais LLP

PRIVATE MEMBER’S BILL PROPOSES TO AMEND THE CriMinaL CodE TO ADDRESS CYBERBULLYING

The nature of cyberbullying is such that its scope of inf luence and potential for damage are significant. The most recent cyberbullying tragedy of teenager Amanda Todd, who committed suicide after an inappropriate photo of her went haywire on the internet causing her to be the victim of repeated harassment, threats, and even physical violence, reaffirmed the magnitude of this issue and the lack of efficient tools to punish and deter cyberbullying.

In the face of growing awareness regarding the issue of cyberbullying in Canada, Member of Parliament Hedy Fry of Vancouver Centre introduced Private Member’s Bill C-273, “An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Cyberbullying)” to the 41st Parliament for a first reading on September 19, 2011. On June 6, 2012, the Bill passed second reading and was referred to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. At this stage, it will be examined by members of a committee who may propose certain amendments.

The Bill intends to amend the Criminal Code in order to clarify that cyberbullying is an offence. However, it does not create a new and distinct crime of cyberbullying. Instead, it amends existing sections of the Criminal Code to include electronic manifestations of the respective crimes. Specifically, it amends sections 264, 298 and 372.

Section 264 is the harassment provision of the Code. It would be amended to include conduct that is communicated by means of a computer or a group of interconnected or related computers, including the internet, or any similar means of communication.

Section 298 pertains to defamatory libel. Proposed Bill C-273 would add, similarly to the addition to section 264, that the provision on defamatory libel applies in respect of a matter that is published by means of a computer or a group of interconnected or related computers, including the internet, or any similar means of communication.

Section 372 speaks to the crime of false messages. The current means of communication referenced in the provision are: letter, telegram, telephone, cable and radio. The proposed Bill seeks to add “computer or a group of interconnected or related computers, including the internet” to that list. It also seeks to add

“indecent electronic message” and “repeated electronic messages” to subsections 2 and 3 which currently contain only “indecent telephone call” and “repeated telephone calls”.

It remains to be seen whether this private member’s bill will become law. It must still pass the report stage, third reading in the House of Commons, Senate consideration and royal assent. Furthermore,

private member’s bills have a much lower success rate than do government bills.

If it does pass, it would change the reality of cyberbullying from a perpetrator’s perspective, as they would face a greater possibility of criminal charges when engaging in cyberbullying. It would also change the reality from a victim’s perspective, because

societal perceptions and state involvement in cyberbullying would become enhanced, resulting in greater protection for the victim. If this particular private member’s bill does not pass, increasing pressure might lead the government itself to draft and introduce a new bill which would specifically create a separate and distinct crime of cyberbullying.

THE NATURE OF CYBERBULLYING

THE CURRENT INTERACTION OF CYBERBULLYING AND THE CriMinaL CodE

Under the Ontario Accepting Schools Act, 2012, which came into force on September 1, 2012, cyberbullying is defined as bullying by electronic means including:a. creating a web page or a blog in which the creator assumes the

identity of another person;b. impersonating another person as the author of content or

messages posted on the internet; andc. communicating material electronically to more than one

individual or posting material on a website that may be accessed by one or more individuals.1

Cyberbullying differentiates itself from physical bullying on several grounds. Firstly, cyberbullies can often remain anonymous, masking their identities by creating false Facebook profiles or using temporary email accounts.

Moreover, electronic forums often lack supervision. Unlike in the classroom or school setting where a responsible adult is more readily available to respond to incidents of bullying, hostile and threatening behaviour on virtual forums may go unnoticed by adults.

Furthermore, the nature of the internet is such that an almost unlimited number of people can join in on the bullying, by commenting or re-posting comments or photos on electronic pages. Unlike physical bullying which occurs in a school or a neighbourhood, cyberbullying does not require physical proximity. Cyberbullying permits behaviour of harassment despite the possible physical distance between the bully and the victim. For this same

reason, cyberbullying is inescapable, following the victim into his or her very own home or bedroom.

Finally, the long-term effects of cyberbullying over traditional bullying can be greater in magnitude. Due to the nature of the internet, cyberbullying can leave widespread and potentially permanent damage to the victim and his or her reputation. For example, once a photo is circulated and made widely available, there is no limit on the amount of people that can gain access to it and download it; very little, if anything, can be done to retrieve and delete it from computers worldwide.

Canadian Teachers’ Federation’s Brief to the Department of Justice entitled “Addressing Cyberbullying” argues for the inclusion of cyberbullying within the Criminal Code because, they assert, it is both unreasonable and impractical to place the burden on teachers and individuals to engage in lengthy and costly litigation related to cyberbullying. Rather, they argue, it is up to “Parliament to deliver a clear message that this reprehensible conduct is a crime which the state will prosecute”.2

Inserting cyberbullying as an offence under the Criminal Code would make cyberbullying a societal problem and not just a school problem. Control, prevention, and punishment of cyberbullying would occur in the courts as well as the schools. Additionally, it would broaden the scope of authority from school administrators to law enforcement agents, such as police officers and the judiciary. While the implications are vast, proponents argue that such an approach is necessary to deal with the extreme repercussions of cyberbullying.

Some forms of cyberbullying may already be interpreted as criminal acts under the Criminal Code. Law enforcement officers have already begun resorting to the Criminal Code in egregious cases of bullying and cyberbullying. Most recently, on October 19, 2012, police arrested eight teenage girls at a high school in London, Ontario, because they had been bullying another student, both physically and virtually.3 The girls face criminal harassment charges and more charges could be laid as the investigation continues.4

Currently, the existing Criminal Code provisions that are considered potentially applicable to cyberbullying are: criminal harassment

(section 264), defamatory libel (section 298), false messages (section 372), and hate propaganda (section 320.1). However, these provisions are deficient for the purposes of prosecuting cyberbullying, making them of limited value. For example, the language used in the criminal harassment and false messages provisions do not make any reference to electronic forums, thus making it more challenging to interpret it as applicable to cyberbullying. With regards to defamatory libel, it is a rarely used Criminal Code provision. Finally, hate propaganda would only be directly engaged by conduct arising from the school setting in extraordinary circumstances.


Thus, while current Criminal Code provisions may be used, in the right circumstances, for cases of cyberbullying, experts are calling for new provisions creating a specific crime of cyberbullying, or, amendments to the current provisions explicitly adding the terms “computer”,

“internet”, “technology” and “electronic communication” to the Code.5 In the Nova Scotia Task Force report on bullying and cyberbullying, A. Wayne MacKay, Dalhousie law professor, recommends that:

the provincial Minister of Justice make representations to the

federal Minister of Justice about evaluating the effectiveness of current Criminal Code provisions in responding to bullying and cyberbullying and exploring the pros and cons of a distinct crime of bullying and cyberbullying.6

While there is currently no distinct crime of cyberbullying in Canadian criminal law, there are examples outside our border, where the specific offence of cyberbullying is both in existence and enforced.

EXAMPLES OF CYBERBULLYING IN CRIMINAL LAW SOUTH OF THE BORDER

CONCLUSION

Cyberbullying laws are pervasive in the United States. More generally, 49 states have laws pertaining to bullying.7 Specifically, 12 states have criminal sanctions attached to cyberbullying.8 A further four states have proposed criminal sanctions which have not yet passed into law.9 Sanctions range from state to state, but include short terms of imprisonment and monetary fines.

Unlike Canada, in the United States, each individual state has its own criminal laws. In the wake of certain tragedies resulting from cyberbullying, many States have amended their penal codes so that provisions relating to harassment or stalking, for example, include electronic means.10 Some states specifically use the term cyberbullying within their criminal legislation, creating a distinct and specific offence of cyberbullying. An example of one such law is the following:11

b. A person commits the offense of cyberbullying if: 1. He or she transmits, sends, or posts a communication by

electronic means with the purpose to frighten, coerce, intimidate, threaten, abuse, harass, or alarm another person; and

2. The transmission was in furtherance of severe, repeated, or hostile behavior toward the other person.

c. The offense of cyberbullying may be prosecuted in the county where the defendant was located when he or she transmitted, sent, or posted a communication by electronic means, in the county where the communication by electronic means was received by the person, or in the county where the person targeted by the electronic communications resides.

d. Cyberbullying is a Class B misdemeanor.

Not all states’ laws are as comprehensive as this one; some states do not create a distinct and specific offence of cyberbullying. Rather, they modify their existing provisions on crimes, such as harassment, to include electronic means. The latter approach is more similar to the legislative developments in Canada.

The current debate finds itself at the intersection of cyberbullying and criminal sanctions. Despite the growing awareness regarding the issue of bullying and the attempts of legislation, such as the recently adopted Accepting Schools Act, 2012 in Ontario, to deter bullying

and create accepting and safe school environments, the elusive and pervasive nature of cyberbullying leaves school administrators, parents, and legal professionals alike asking themselves whether cyberbullying should have its place within the Criminal Code.

1 S.O. 2012 C.5 2 Canadian Teachers’ Federation “Addressing Cyberbullying: Brief to the Department of Justice” (June 2008), online: www.ctf-fce.ca/publications/Briefs/BRIEF-Justice-reCyberconduct-eng.pdf [CTF]. 3 “8 Ontario girls arrested in high school bullying case” CBC News Canada (19 October 2012), online: CBC Radio-Canada www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/10/19/london-bullying-arrests-girls-cyber.html 4 “8 girls charged in London, Ont. Bullying case” CTV News (19 October, 2012), online: Bell Media www.ctvnews.ca/canada/8-girls-charged-in-london-ont-bullying-case-1.1001975#.UKJ7Q-jH-dc.email 5 CTF, supra note 2, at p 6. 6 Nova Scotia Task Force on Bullying and Cyberbullying, Respectful and Responsible Relationships: There’s No App for That by A. Wayne MacKay (Province of Nova Scotia, February 29, 2012) at 66 [MacKay]. 7 All but Montana, see Sameer Hinduja & Justin W Patchin, “State Cyberbullying Laws, A Brief Review of State Cyberbullying Laws and Policies” Cyberbullying Research Centre (November 2012), online: Cyberbullying Research Centre www.cyberbullying.us/Bullying_and_Cyberbullying_Laws.pdf at 1 [Hinduja & Patchin]. 8 They are: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tenessee and Wisconsin. Although it does not have a general cyberbullying law in place, Montana has a criminal statute prohibiting harassment via electronic means. See Hinduja & Patchin, supra note 7, at 1. 9 They are: Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan and New York. 10 MacKay, supra note 6, at 57; Hinduja & Patchin. 11 Ark. Code Ann. §5-71-217, online: www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2011/2011R/Acts/Act905.pdf.


Key Learnings, Recommendations and Considerations

Since 2003, the Ontario Ministry of Education’s Student Success/Learning to 18 Strategy has focused on keeping more young people learning to age 18 or graduation, reducing the number of students dropping out of secondary school, improving student achievement and graduation rates, re-engaging youth who have left school without graduating and providing effective programs to prepare students for their post-secondary pathway.

The Differentiated Instruction (DI) Professional Learning Strategy began in 2007 and has been one of the major multi-year initiatives of the Student Success/Learning to 18 Strategic Implementation, Innovation and Support Branch (SS/L-18S IISB). The overall intent of the strategy for Grades 7-12 is to foster instructional, assessment and evaluation practices that are differentiated to support student engagement and learning. Differentiated instruction involves a cyclical process that includes finding out about student learning needs and responding by addressing their particular interests, levels of readiness with precision.

The key goals of the DI Professional Learning Strategy are to:• expand upon the instructional knowledge and skills of educators of grades 7-12 as they respond to the learning

and engagement needs of all students;• build awareness and knowledge of DI as a framework for planning and implementing effective instruction,

assessment and evaluation practices as they are outlined in the Ontario curriculum; and• facilitate and support job-embedded professional learning opportunities through collaborative inquiry.

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Linda Staudt, Student Success/Learning to 18 Strategic ImplementationInnovation and Support Branch, Ministry of Education


DI in Action* survey says . . . On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being most valuable, “planning and teaching with a colleague focusing specifically on DI” and “mentoring by a DI knowl-edgeable colleague” were rated as the most valuable types of professional learning with ratings of 4.24 and 4.17 respectively.

DI in Action* survey says . . . Almost 70% of teachers surveyed indicated that they were “developing the routines, habits and skills for DI” (50.1%) or “sustaining a DI culture in the classroom” (18.2%)

DI in Action* survey says . . . On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being strongest agreement, teachers agreed that there was encouragement from school administration to try new practices or strategies (4.06)

DI in Action* survey says . . . Over 80 % of educators agreed or strongly agreed that “by implementing DI, student learning can be significantly improved”.

* University of Ottawa, 2012

external evaluation recommendations

1. Focus on facilitating a deep understanding of DI as a pedagogical framework

2. Focus on promoting deeper implementation of DI at the secondary level

3. Consider a range of professional learning approaches to promote and foster DI implementation

External Evaluation

In 2011, the University of Ottawa conducted an external evaluation of the DI Professional Learning Strategy. The evaluation design consisted of three strands: (1) Concept Mapping, (2) a provincial DI in Action survey for educators and (3) a Multiple Case Study. The triangulated approach facilitated an in-depth and rigorous exploration of the impact of the DI Professional Learning Strategy within the complex contextual elements that affect its implementation and uptake. A summary of key learnings from the external evaluation is presented below.

a. What educators value in the Di professional learning Strategy

• Teachers valued DI-focused collaboration and mentoring with colleagues and DI-knowledgeable leaders

• Teachers valued DI resources including the DI Teaching-Learning Examples (DITLXs)• Educators expressed a belief that professional learning in the area of DI needed to continue,

albeit in a more subject-specific, collaborative, job-embedded fashion

B. implementation of Differentiated instruction

• Variation exists both within and between classrooms, schools and boards across the province with respect to awareness, understanding and implementation of DI

• Although teachers felt confident and supported in implementing DI they indicated that developing DI practice requires time

• Most teachers are implementing elements of DI but some are unsure of the deeper implications and rationale for its use, and of its application to specific grades and/or subjects; misconceptions are evident

C. impact of the Di professional learning Strategy

• Educator familiarity and confidence with DI concepts had a direct relationship to the frequency of DI implementation

• Those teachers who had taken part in DI professional learning activities and who had done so more often were implementing DI significantly more often than their colleagues; this is an indication that the professional learning that teachers have engaged in has had a positive impact on their practice

• Findings indicated that most teachers, administrators and board personnel believed that when DI was implemented, students experienced more positive outcomes as a result

Recommendations for Implementation of the DI Professional Learning Strategy

The University of Ottawa presented three recommendations related to the key learnings. The recommendations apply to all levels of implementation – ministry, boards and schools.

recommendation #1 suggests a focus on facilitating deep understanding of DI as a pedagogical framework. The study found limits in educators’ depth of understanding of DI. The evaluation recommends professional learning that explicitly addresses misconceptions about DI, focuses on the alignment of DI and assessment and evaluation, and clearly articulates a pedagogical framework for differentiated instruction.


Administrators are expected to be the change-management experts (e.g., creating the conditions); whereas lead teachers (i.e., informal leaders such as resource teachers, department heads, facilitators) are expected to be the content experts (e.g., subject, instruction). This learning priority differentiation is sensible in that between-group expertise is distributed (Katz, Earl & Jaafar, 2009, p.86).

A brief summary of each area of challenge follows.

recommendation #1: Deeper understanding of DiArea of Challenge - Addressing the Complexity of Instruction

The first recommendation speaks to the complexity of instruction. The Complexity of Instruction addresses the need to situate DI within a pedagogical framework. It positions differentiated instruction as a response to the varied needs of learners in our classrooms. DI is the component of effective classroom practice that takes into account the diversity of learners and ways of learning in our classrooms.

recommendation #2 articulates the need for a deeper implementa-tion of DI at the secondary level with professional learning that ad-dresses the particular beliefs and concerns of secondary educators

– teachers and school administrators. The study found differences in the extent of implementation between senior elementary and sec-ondary panels.

recommendation #3 emphasizes consideration of a range of pro-fessional learning approaches to promote and foster DI implemen-tation. Educators communicated that professional learning should be subject-specific and collaborative with opportunities for practice and feedback and sharing and mentoring by DI -knowledgeable col-leagues and leaders. The evaluation noted that professional learning was particularly important for school leaders to ensure that DI con-tinues as a viable and sustainable professional practice.

recommendation #2: Deeper implementation in SecondaryArea of Challenge - Changing Beliefs and Practice

The second recommendation poses the dual challenge of changing educator beliefs and bridging the knowing-doing gap – putting what we know into practice. Typically, changes in practice precede a change in beliefs and attitudes. Thomas Guskey (2002) explains that attitudes and beliefs of educators usually don’t change until after they try an instructional strategy and gain evidence of improvement in student learning. So the question becomes – how do we help educators implement changed practice in the first place? Katz, Earl and Jaafar (2009, p.71, 73) suggest that collaborative inquiry is a process for professional learning that deepens knowledge and translates into changed practice. They explain that collaborative inquiry involves learning from prior practice, analysis of data/evidence, regular use of research and expertise, challenging existing beliefs about teaching and learning and receiving feedback about teaching from colleagues.

recommendation #3: range of professional learningArea of Challenge - Getting All Levels Learning

The third recommendation highlights the importance of professional learning related to DI for teachers and board and school leaders. Sharratt and Fullan (2009, p.9) state that “the key to driving successful systemic capacity building … is knowledge building that is universally aligned and coherent, knowledge building that emanates both from the centre and the field simultaneously and in concert.” So what is it that leaders are to learn? Katz, Earl & Jaafar (2009) see the learning of formal and informal leaders as being (a) directly related to their particular role and function and (b) driven by the needs of those who are being supported. Examples of such learning include how to create supporting conditions, access and collaborate with experts and support facilitators of professional learning and collaborative inquiry.


The DI Professional Learning Strategy is an initiative that is critical to reaching every student. Results from the DI in Action survey indicate that educators who are involved in DI professional learning believe that students experience more positive outcomes as a result of differentiated instruction. Students were perceived as more engaged in their learning, and were seen as performing better academically as well as developing more confidence and self-esteem as learners (University of Ottawa, 2012). Professional learning through facilitated collaborative inquiries at the classroom, school and board levels is proving to be effective in deepening understanding of differentiated instruction, and how it connects with assessment practices, instructional strategies and the classroom learning environment.

Moving forward, the ministry will continue to support boards in increasing the breadth and depth of implementation of effective instruction. Work with boards will address the external evaluation recommendations for the strategy as well as the related areas of implementation challenge. The DI Professional Learning Strategy will continue to be f lexible and responsive based on evidence, including educator and student voice from boards and schools.C

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All professional learning sessions are grounded ingospel values and church teaching and fully integrated

in Catholic School Leadership as outlined in the Ontario Leadership Framework.

For information on professional learning sessions contact:

Marcelle DeFreitasProfessional Learning Coordinator

[email protected] x 37

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL LEADERS

CHARACTER EDUCATION

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CRITICAL THINKING PROBLEM SOLVING COMMUNICATION

Ethical Leadership

Poverty is not Destiny in Catholic Schools

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The Principal as Mathematics Leader and Learner Open to Learning Conversations - Lead

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Finding Balance in Your Leadership Role Leading and N

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Critical Thinking, Critical Literacy and Social Justice Math Leading in an Unionized Environmen

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Tools for Equity and Inclusive Education

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Challenging Topics for School Leaders

FOR SEVERAL YEARS, UNIVERSITIES HAVE MARKETED MANY DIFFERENT PROGRAMS AND APPROACHES TO ACQUIRING A MASTERS OF EDUCATION DEGREE. It has become a global market, as online formats have been developed to attract Ontario educators. Each program has its own merit and value and one would be wise not to discredit any of these avenues for further learning. Universities have their own processes to ensure that accreditation of the degree is valid.

The Ontario College of Teachers do not and cannot determine that a degree is valid and as such the degree once appropriate documentation is provided is entered on an Ontario educator’s certificate of registration.

However this is where the caution begins. While a Masters of Education degree is granted and posted only some can be used to achieve further professional qualifications – specifically the Supervisory Officers’ Qualification.

In 2008, there was a change to the legislation regarding the nature of the Masters degree required. Ontario Regulation 176/10 under the Ontario College of Teachers Act, 1996 sets out the Masters’ requirements to obtain the Supervisory Officer qualification. Section 35(3)4 outlines one of the prerequisites for entry into the Supervisory Officer Qualification program as follows:

4. The candidate held a master’s degree for which the candidate was required to complete at least 30 graduate post-secondary credits or their equivalent, or a doctorate,

where the master’s degree or doctorate was granted by an institution identified in clause (a) or (b) of the definition of

“acceptable post-secondary degree” in subsection 1(1).

Section 35(4) of the Regulation provides:

(4) To fulfill the requirement in paragraph 4 of subsection (3) relating to the completion of graduate post-secondary credits or their equivalent, the credits or their equivalent must have been completed by the candidate in addition to any credits that he or she was required to complete to be granted a general certificate of qualification and registration.

In this regard, a 30-credit stand-alone graduate program is now required for a Masters.

Principals may wish to share this information with their teaching staffs so that each educator can: review their masters transcripts to ensure it consists of the required 30 graduate credits and plan appropriately the course work required for their specific career aspirations.

Masters of Education Degree: Created Equal?A Cautionary Tale

Cathy Horgan, Program DirectorCCDO/SOQP



CPCO 2013 Conference • April 25 - 26 • The Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto • Photography by Edge Imaging


CPCO AWARD RECIPIENTS

Fr. John Redmond Memorial Award

Distinguished Service Award

his eminence thomas Cardinal Collins

In 2007, His Eminence, Thomas Cardinal Collins became a member of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops Permanent Council, the Chancellor of the University of St. Michael’s College and the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, in Toronto. He is the Chair of the Board of Governors of St. Augustine’s Seminary, and the Chair of the Board of Directors of Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary, Catholic Charities, and Catholic Cemeteries. He is also a trustee of ShareLife’s Advisory Board. In 2008, Cardinal Collins was elected President of the Assembly of Catholic Bishops in Ontario.

His Eminence, Thomas Cardinal Collins is a strong voice for Catholic Education in the province of Ontario. He partners with Catholic School Boards, and a variety of Catholic Associations in order to promote and develop Catholic Education throughout our province. During this Year of Faith, Cardinal Collins invites us to ref lect on our role as stewards of God’s many gifts, calling us to lead with a spirit of generosity, most fully revealed in the sharing of time and talent with others.

CPCO is deeply grateful that His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins joins our membership at our Annual Conference to celebrate the Eucharist with us. It is with appreciation and deep respect that we proudly present His Eminence, Thomas Cardinal Collins with the Father John Redmond Memorial Award.

paul mciver DevlinYork CDSB

Paul McIver Devlin is currently a principal with the York Catholic District School Board at St.Luke Catholic Learning Centre, a school for expelled, long term suspended and alternative learning students. Prior to this role, Paul served as a Secondary School Principal, Vice-Principal, Department Head and teacher of Religion.

Paul's involvement with CPCO started in 1998 when he filled the role of lead negotiator. He furthered his involvement with York Catholic when he served on the local Executive Council and then served as association president from 2008-2010.

Paul s̀ call to serve and lead reached CPCO provincial in 2002 when he became part of the Member Security Committee. His dedication and energy spread to membership on CPCO s̀ Provincial Benefits Committee, CPCO s̀ Provincial Finance Committee and for the past six years CPCO’s Constitution Committee. Paul co-chaired the CPCO annual conference in Markham in 2006. His inquiring mind and ref lective practice has been appreciated by each of the committees he has served on.

Paul is devoted to promoting Catholic education in the province of Ontario. He has developed outstanding relationships with Catholic administrators across the province. He takes great pride in mentoring aspiring administrators.

The Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario congratulates Paul Devlin on receiving the Distinguished Service Award.

CPCO AWARD RECIPIENTS

Past-president's Award

Service Excellence Award

Jim minelloWindsor-Essex CDSB

For over 30 years, Jim Minello has served the school communities of the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board. Jim’s leadership experience has seen him serve four different secondary school communities, where his professional demeanour and positive interaction with staff and students have provided the foundation for successful relationships and improved student learning.

Jim has been a member of CPCO since 1998 when he was vice-principal of Cardinal Carter Secondary School. During his career he has been actively involved with both local and provincial committees, including Political Action, Member Security and Constitution. Currently, Jim holds the position of Past-president, after fulfilling his role as CPCO President during the 2011-12 year. His critical analysis of situations allowed him to formulate well thought out solutions to challenging problems both locally and provincially.

Jim is active in his home parish serving as a lector and external Minister of the Eucharist. Recently, he addressed his parish community to enlighten them about the value of Catholic education in today’s society. His message revealed the need to honour

each child’s unique gifts, learning styles and differences. Jim works extremely hard to create a school culture that provides service to students and support to staff within a faith-based community that is rooted in the gospel messages and teachings of Christ.

Jim works tirelessly serving others. His servant leadership, welcoming ways and passion for Catholic education are true testaments of his personal character. Jim Minello has truly embraced his Catholic vocation!

The Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario would like to thank Jim for his tremendous contributions and dedication to Catholic education, and in particular for his service to the Catholic principals and vice-principals of this province.

gaby aloiManager of Corporate Operations, CPCO

Gaby Aloi is the proud recipient of the CPCO Service Excellence Award. This award recognizes Gaby’s hard work, dedication and loyal service to our membership. She has been with CPCO since April 27, 1998 and is the only remaining original staff member. Gaby has witnessed the making of history and the evolution of CPCO as a professional, provincial organization. She has carried CPCO through four office moves and helped our organization adapt through periods of growth and expansion. Gaby is the manager of corporate operations for CPCO, but she has had many job titles over the years. Her official responsibilities include: supporting the executive director and executive council; managing day-to-day office operations and staff; administering HR functions; handling day-to-day financial operations; coordinating CPCO meetings including the conference and annual general meeting; and sustaining membership services. Gaby is proud to be part of this organization, which has grown from a staff of three and membership of 1,700, to the current staff of over ten and membership of 2,100.


Principal of the Year Award Recipients

lou Dodaro, Dufferin-Peel CDSB

Lou Dodaro has been an exemplary administrator for the past 12 years, and has served the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board for 24 years. His commitment to service has been demonstrated in all aspects of his involvement in the Dufferin-Peel Elementary Principal/Vice-Principal Association and is highlighted by his outstanding leadership as Association President.

Jodi Kuran, Huron-Perth CDSB

Jodi Kuran is a true Catholic leader. Every day, Jodi celebrates the potential in each of the 600 students and 60 staff whom she welcomes to St. Anne’s Catholic Secondary School. She recognizes the energy and enthusiasm found in young people and invites them to be the change, not only in their school community, but in their global community through a variety of social justice projects.

theresa lalonde-pankow, CDSB of Eastern Ontario

Theresa Lalonde-Pankow is the epitome of an exemplary Catholic educator and administrator. Throughout her career, Theresa’s

vocation to Catholic education has guided her passion and commitment to always be innovative in her approach, thoughtful in her planning and effective in her delivery.

Debbie piekarski, Nipissing-Parry Sound CDSB

Debbie Piekarski is a natural born leader and has been a valuable contributing member of the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board for 25 years. Debbie’s deep faith has served to enrich her vocation as a Catholic educator touching the lives of peers, parents, students and community partners.

John Susi, Halton CDSB

John has been an educator in the Halton Catholic District School Board for the past 23 years. He has served as vice-principal for three years and as principal for 13 years. John has been a compassionate and conscientious servant leader, dedicated to helping his school community, Board and Principal Association by working in collaboration with all Catholic stakeholders.

From Left: John Susi, Debbie Piekarski, Theresa Lalonde-Pankow, Jodi Kuran, Lou Dodaro


the Catholic principals’ Council of Ontario would like to thank the following exhibitors of this year's Conference & agm, held at the Westin harbour Castle in toronto on april 25-27, 2013.

We appreciate your support and assistance in making this conference a success.

B & B School Supplies Edith Bedard 905-890-0404

Illusion Images Ltd. Jack Dalganiuk 905-507-2890

Perspectives Eduscho Ltd. Debbie Yantzi 613-443-6358

B.R.A.V.E. Carrie Percival 905-450-9925

InSchoolwear Inc. Jane Kent 905-338-9622

Picaboo Yearbooks Zafreen Prebtani 650-326-3200

Business to Business Network Peter Busciglio 416-816-4787

Johnson Inc. Deborah Celemencki 905-764-4948

RHB Group/R.J. McCarthy Ltd. John Boniferro 416-593-6900

Camp Muskoka Drew Black 705-645-6000

Jostens Jeannette Emmett 905-891- 8671

Roseneath Theatre Kathryn Stelmack 416-686-5199

Canadian Community Reading Plan Diane Lamb 800-665-5133

Lamontagne Fundraising Janice Lacombe 800-567-3435 Lettuce Make Thyme Inc. Lynn Campanella 416-781-2338

Scholastic Education Jolyn Mascarenhas 905-887-7323 School Specialty Canada Celina Billows 800-665-2461

Canadian School Book Exchange Carlos Perez 905-828-7200

Canon Canada Inc. George Couto 905-795-1111

Lifetouch Canada Inc. Don MacDougall 613-921-1512

School Spirit Wear Tom Woodland 519-457-7755

Catholic Curriculum Corporation Fran Craig 905-564-8209

Little Caesars Pizza Kit Sylvia Donohue 313-471-6364

Snow Valley Ski Resort Trudy Ellis 877-404-4744

Dairy Farmers of Canada (Ontario) Hoda Soltani 905-817-2005

Nelson Education Ltd. Olga Kossilova 416-752-9100

Source Screen Printing Matt Shiner 647-704-3193

Edge Imaging Dean Ricci 416-688-3871

Novalis Inc. Maria Medeiros 416-363-3303

SRB Education Solutions Inc. Sanjana Bari 877-772-4685

Educators Financial Group David McGuire 416-752-6843

OES Scoreboards Inc. Jenna Pellow 519- 652-5833

St. Francis Xavier University Janice Landry 902-867-2191

EF Educational Tours Yolanta Lis 647-259-1554

Olympia Sports Camp Michelle Stockstill 905-479-9388

The Retired Teachers of Ontario Sarah Kangudie 416-962-9463

E-Learning Ontario Rose Burton Spohn 519-536-6526

Ontario College of Teachers Vimla Kunthasami 416-961-8800

Teachers Life Insurance Society Sandra Porfirio 416-620-1140

Explorica Canada Inc. Diana Ho 888-378-8845

Ontario Pioneer Camp Andrew Hall 705-385-2370

Thompson Educational Publishers Patti Henderson 416-766-2763

Faith Student Planners-Maracle Press Sandie Howie 905-723-3438

OPHEA Justin Edmonstone 416-426-7124

Tree House Press Patrick Lashmar 905-574-3399

FranklinCovey Jami Welch 801-319-3733 Friesens - Yearbooks Kevin Prosser 888-324-9725 Handwriting Without Tears Steven Martelli 301-263-2700 Herff Jones Yearbooks Charlene Trapp 204-956-9920

OSBIE Traci Decaro 519-767-2182 OTIP Anita Chamberland 226-338-2049 Pearson Education Canada Hadijah Creary 416-386-3521 Pegasus School Images Lembit Raudnask 800-461-6575

Ukulele Kids Julia Lowry 416-221-7017 Ultimate Fundraising Inc. Pat Van Hesteren 888-489-8122 World’s Finest Chocolate Debbie Balas 705-653-3590 3P Learning Paul Reid 877-467-6851

The Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario wishes to

thank the following companies for their sponsorship of this

year’s conference.

Canadian School Book exchange

•

edge imaging

•

Johnson inc.

•

lamontagne Fundraising

•

lifetouch Canada inc.

•

nelson education ltd.

•

rhB group

•

World’s Finest Chocolate

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