Vice principals, principals and Sudbury Catholic Schools staff joined Senior Administration at a special retreat held at the Sportsman’s Lodge on Kukagami Lake to celebrate Catholic Leadership and to unveil the launch of the Board’s new vision for the 2008-2009 school year. During the two day event elementary and secondary school principals and vice principals learned about effective leadership and were introduced to a new and powerful set of leadership tools that were developed by and for Ontario educators.

“We all know and we recognize leadership as one of our key professional responsibilities,” stated Catherine McCullough, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. “However, in the face of dozens of administrative tasks, day to day problems and issues leadership often remains an abstract concept. One of the many positive outcomes of this retreat is that it provided our principals and vice principals with the Provincial leadership framework that has been tailored to their roles and responsibilities as school leaders.”

McCullough also noted that as educational leaders, principals and vice principals are contributing to one of the most exciting and challenging periods in the history of Ontario’s education system and that the targets being set and achieved in Ontario have put Ontario’s education system on the world stage as a centre of excellence. According to Patty Orecchio, Program Developer and Barbara McMorrow, Professional Learning Director for The Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario and who also lead the group through the Catholic Leadership framework section of the workshop, no two regions, school boards or schools are exactly alike nor are their achievement targets or leadership challenges. It is for this reason that the framework has been designed to address the specific needs of both school and system leaders. It also provides a core vision of leadership and a common leadership language that will for the first time in Ontario provide a seamless alignment of leadership across the entire education system and engender a powerful collaborative approach to leadership and professional learning.

Sudbury Catholic Schools would like to thank the Institute of Educational Leadership and the Catholic Principals Council of Ontario for sponsoring the leadership retreat.