Catholic Education Week is an annual event celebrated by Catholic school boards and schools across the province. It is a time for students, teachers and parents to celebrate teaching excellence and student achievement. This year’s Catholic Education Week theme “Rooted in Christ” provides us with a strong message – we are one with Christ, joined together and rooted as is a tree. Like the tree, we must hold our heads high and tall. We should be proud of the Catholic family we belong to. We are held together by the roots of our faith, our teachings and the sacraments we have received since birth.

Last year, Pope John Paul II united our Catholic communities during World Youth Days by bringing the Holy Cross to various cities. Through this event, he succeeded in joining our Catholic families – rooting the family together as one.

Our Catholic family is rooted in a vision to instill Catholic values, attitudes and actions in its students. Our students demonstrated their knowledge of the Gospel by participating in activities that have a religious focus such as school mass, consoling grieving classmates, helping those in need through food share programs, Jump Rope for Heart and many other worthy events.

Let us encourage our students to maintain their roots in the Catholic faith. We invite all members of our Catholic community to participate in local events marking Catholic Education Week 2003. Above all, we invite everyone to pray that we will be faithful servants to God’s gift of Catholic education in this province. We also encourage all to pray for the people of all nations somehow affected by the unrest of these times. Please pray that our faith will ease some of the troubles and bring peace throughout the world.

Let us make this Catholic Education Week one to remember!

Secondary students with the four Sudbury and District School Boards received copies of the Criminal Code book from Justice Ian Gordon and Justice Randall Lalande in honour of Law Day and Law Week 2003, recently. Law Day is celebrated annually to commemorate the enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and to provide an enhanced understanding of law and the justice system in Ontario.

The Ontario Justice Education Network in conjunction with the Ontario Bar Association also offers teachers the opportunity of a speaker (Lawyer/Judge) or a courtroom visit during Law Week. This year to mark Law Day, the lawyers of Sudbury, the Judiciary and the Office of the Crown Attorney have collected Criminal Codes to donate to the Sudbury Secondary Schools. The valuable books will used by the students in the Public, Catholic, and French and English School Boards to study various aspects of Canadian law including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Young Offenders Act. The school boards thank the legal community for this donation.

Participating in the Law Day ceremony were, front row (L-R); assistant Crown attorney Susan Stothart, College Notre Dame’s Janelle Giroux; Lockerby Composite’s Aliya Pabani; Macdonald-Cartier’s Liane Briere; St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School, Laura Nurmi; and Charles Conroy, of the law association; top row (L-R); courthouse operations manager Kevin Lyle; Justice Ian Gordon; Justice Randall Lalande; and courthouse operations supervisor Louise Tarini.

Trustees of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board made a number of decisions regarding boundary changes during a special meeting of the board on April 15. Trustees voted in favour of a motion that approved boundary changes in the Valley East Family of Schools for Immaculate Conception and St. Anne elementary schools. Effective September 2003, the existing Immaculate Conception boundary would be extended to Frost Avenue for students in Junior Kindergarten to Grade 3. Current Grade 4, 5 and 6 students living within the new geographic area being added to the Immaculate Conception boundary who would otherwise attend St. Anne school, would also be permitted to attend Immaculate Conception school if they have younger siblings attending Immaculate Conception.

The Board also examined the accommodation review involving St. Mark elementary school in Markstay and its possible consolidation due to low enrolment and high operational costs. In the end, however, Trustees decided to maintain the status quo option for St. Mark school.

Graduates of St. Charles Catholic school in Chelmsford will continue to be received at
St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School and Marymount Academy in Sudbury.

Ray Vincent, Chair of the Sudbury Catholic Board stated that, “The decisions made by the Trustees and the Board this evening continue to focus on improving the quality of Catholic Education. Before making any decision on the motions placed before us by the staff, we review very carefully the information that we receive from school councils, parents and the community at large. We also take into consideration regular and new revenues in the 2003–2004 Student Focused Grant Regulations. Our mandate is to be fiscally responsible in the equitable distribution of our funds for the highest possible benefit of all the students entrusted in the care of the Board.”

Students from the Sudbury Catholic District School Board had a tremendous showing at the 34th Sudbury Regional Science Fair held at Laurentian University this weekend winning 16 out of 44 awards. St. Francis students collected a total of 10 medals followed closely by Marymount Academy students who gathered up 6 medals in the Junior Life, Junior Physical, and Junior Engineering categories.

The top 5 projects from both the Sudbury Catholic and Rainbow District School Boards received gold medals and will now move on to represent the City of Greater Sudbury and their respective schools at the Canada Wide Science Fair which will be held in Calgary, May 11 to 18. Gold medal winners pictured,(left to right) include; Niall Williams, Lockerby Composite School, Andrew Mulloy and Nick Ryan, RL Beattie, Michael Stanford, RL Beattie, Shawn Cashin, St.Francis, and Andrew Pawluch, St. Francis.

Also honoured at the awards ceremony were Colette Mathe, teacher from Ecole Notre Dame and Zandra Zubac, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board for their years of service on the Executive Committee.