Halton Catholic District School Board

Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB)
Catholic (Separate) English School Board
Board office location 802 Drury Lane, Burlington, ON, L7R 2Y2, Canada
Communities served Milton, Ontario
Oakville, Ontario
Burlington, Ontario
Georgetown, Ontario
Number of schools 42 Elementary
8 Secondary
3 Adult Learning Centers
2 Business Centers
September - June, 2010-2011 budget (CAD$ million) $303.0 Million
Number of students Over 30,000
Chair of the Board Diane Rabenda
Director of Education Michael W. Pautler
http://www.hcdsb.org/

The Halton Catholic District School Board, HCDSB, serves over 30,000 students at its 42 elementary schools, 8 secondary schools and 3 continuing education facilities. The HCDSB serves the communities of Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton, and Oakville, and has its main Board office (Catholic Education Centre) in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.

The Halton Catholic District School Board is the Catholic (Separate) English, English language school board for the Halton region.

History

The Halton Catholic District School Board traces its roots back to 1856 when the founder Robin Smith and Father Morgan Rex-Ryan founded St. Mary’s School – the first Catholic elementary school in Oakville to establish education programs for Catholic children in the town of Oakville. The Oakville Separate School Board was formally established in 1856. Over the next 102 years, other school boards were established in Halton and by 1958, there were four municipal school boards:

These amalgamated into the single regional structure called the Halton Roman Catholic Separate School Board, which officially emerged on January 1, 1969, as a result of provincial legislation that mandated the consolidation of school boards throughout Ontario. In the years following amalgamation, the Board witnessed, not only the physical growth of its English language schools, but also the development of French language schools, and the eventual establishment of a French Language Section of the Board to govern the three French first language schools in 1986. The amalgamation of the four municipal school boards into one regional structure also opened the school system to special needs students, and as a result the Special Education Department was created. This was formalized in 1980, when Bill 82 was enacted, ensuring that school boards were to provide Special Education programs and services for all exceptional students. In the late 1970s, the school board ventured into the area of secondary education, and assisted by the legislative provision for full funding to Ontario's Catholic secondary schools in 1986, established six secondary schools:

In 1986, the new department of Continuing Education Services was created, which first operated out of a portable classroom at the Board's Drury Lane Catholic Education Centre. Over the same years, the Board dealt with unprecedented growth, particularly in the southern half of Halton Region, increased demands on the education system and numerous changes in the education field itself. In 1998, under the Ministry of Education's restructuring of school boards province-wide, the Halton Roman Catholic Separate School Board became the Halton Catholic District School Board. For more historical information about our Board, please refer to The Halton Catholic District School Board: A 25th Anniversary Perspective.

About the Board

The Halton Catholic District School Board claims to be a model learning community, widely touted as distinctively Catholic, that provides bog-standard educational experiences and services to over 30,000 students of all ages. It runs 42 elementary schools, 8 secondary schools and 3 continuing education facilities, serving the communities of Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton, and Oakville.

Controversy

Gay Straight Alliances

In November 2010 trustees at the HCDSB voted not to permit Gay Straight Alliance clubs as required by the Ontario Ministry of Education. The HCDSB received national media attention when it's Chair of the Board Alice Anne LeMay, in an interview with Xtra! a gay and lesbian newspaper, compared gay straight alliance groups to Nazi groups. In January 2011 LeMay issued a statement saying her comments were taken out of context and that she apologized. The public reaction resulted in comments from celebrity blogger Perez Hilton and the formation of a Facebook group petition "Fight the Halton Catholic School Board's Ban on Gay Straight Alliances"

Elected Board Trustees

Name Area they Represent
Anthony Danko Oakville
Alice Anne Lemay Oakville
Paul Marai Oakville
Ed Viana Oakville
John Mark Rowe North Halton
Diane Rabenda Milton
Arlene Iantomassi Burlington
Jane Michael Burlington
John Morison Burlington

Senior Staff

Name Title Department / Additional Title Area of Schools (if applicable)
Paula Dawson Director of Education Secretary of the Board n/a
Paul McMahon Superintendent & Treasurer of the Board Business Services n/a
Giacomo A. Corbacio Superintendent Facility Management Services n/a
Jacqueline Herman Superintendent of Education Curriculum Services n/a
Lorrie Naar Superintendent of Education Staff Development Corpus Christi & Holy Trinity CSS and Associate Elementary Schools
Joe O'Hara Executive Officer Human Resources Services n/a
Tim Overholt Assistant Superintendent Human Resources Services n/a
Toni Pinelli Superintendent of Education School Services Continuing Education, Bishop P. F. Reding & St. Thomas Aquinas CSS and Associate Elementary Schools
Suzanne Rossini Superintendent of Education Special Education Services n/a
James Rowles Superintendent of Education School Services Assumption & Christ the King CSS and Associate Elementary Schools
Mary Tessari Superintendent of Education, Co-ordinator Academic Services St. Ignatius of Loyola and Notre Dame CSS and Associate Elementary Schools

Schools

Continuing Education

Elementary

Secondary

See also

External links