CatholicBoardCatholic board trustees approved a recommendation regarding Architectural Consultant Services involving St. Basil Secondary School.  MGP Architects were chosen, with the lowest of four proposed fees offered at 4.9 percent of construction costs.  They will be responsible for performing those services for the conversion of St. Basil from a secondary school to a City Central Elementary School. 

—

One of the items on Tuesday’s Catholic board meeting agenda dealt with the subject of primary literacy.  A number of teachers along with members of the board’s Primary Literacy Team were acknowledged for their work in growing competent and capable readers and writers:

St. Ann

— Tara Borelli and Rachela DiBerardino — FDK Educator Team
— Christina Principe/Jennifer Sloss/Paula Trainor — Grade 1 Teachers
— Paul Berlingeri — Grade 3/4 Teacher

St. Bernadette

— Penny Luxton and Brenda Rankin — FDK Educator Team
— Liz Mannarino — Grade 1 Teacher
— Wendy Koprash — Grade 2 Teacher
— Joanne Fell — Grade 3/4 Teacher
— Christine Chilelli — Learning Resource Teacher

St. Pius X

— Lisa Dos Reis and Grace Dick — FDK Educator Team
— Melissa Valente — Grade 1/2 Teacher
— Gina Cuglietta — Grade 3/4 Teacher

St. Theresa

— Christina Buffone and Deanna Buonomo — FDK Educator Team
— Betty Germanilli — Grade 1/2 Teacher
— Anna Smith — Grade 2/3 Teacher

Primary Literacy Team

— Rachel Biedermann — Curriculum Co-ordinator K-6
— Anita Turcotte — Student Work Study Teacher
— Amanda McCabe — Reading Recovery Teacher Lead
— Roberta Chiarello — System Librarian Special Assignment Teacher
— Lisa Brown — Full Day Kindergarten Special Assignment Teacher

Ministry of Education

— Doctor Mary Lou McKinley — Student Achievement Officer

—

Huron-Superior Catholic trustees also learned about the successes of ‘Reading Recovery’ on Tuesday night.  Examples could be found in a report included in the meeting agenda.  They highlighted an increase of space in the libraries at St. Ann, St. Paul and St. Mary’s French Immersion schools.  Another positive development was the cataloguing of the library at St. Joseph French Immersion School in Wawa.  This is being done to prepare for the implementation of the Destiny Library System — a centrally installed software system that offers circulation, cataloging, searching, reporting and management tools. The new system is scheduled to be installed in June. Other achievements were the 2nd Annual Story Telling School Tour, where all schools across the District were included.  There is also a program called ‘Genius Hour’ that was piloted in four classes.  This is where students decide what they want to learn, how they will learn it and share their learning.   The use of fluency coaches teaching older students and that group coaching younger students to improve literacy at St. Bernadette School was also highlighted.  It was also mentioned that eight schools participated in the ‘Forest Of Reading’ — an initiative that promotes Canadian authors to enhance school libraries and literacy development.  Students also have the chance to vote for their favourite book.