Down Memory Lane

A new chapter often begins when a simple conversation transforms into an innovative idea. This is exactly what happened one afternoon at The Glen House in Gananoque, Ontario 30 years ago. Each October, Catholic superintendents from across Eastern Ontario would get together to report on their respective board’s successes and challenges and share ideas with one another about the future.

At the end of the two-day gathering, four superintendents were just about to leave, but stopped to talk before getting into their cars. Vic D’Amico, Kevin Lydon, Lorne Keon and Greg McNally recounted how their boards each spend time and money developing its own curriculum content. Sometimes the same content was crafted by more than one school board, while other times the content wouldn’t always be shared with its counterparts.

That’s when the four superintendents came to a realization: why don’t the eight Catholic school boards from across Eastern Ontario pool our resources and come together to develop future curriculum projects as one unit?

​A new chapter often begins when a simple conversation transforms into an innovative idea. This is exactly what happened one afternoon at The Glen House in Gananoque, Ontario 25 years ago. Each October, Catholic superintendents from across Eastern Ontario would get together to report on their respective board’s successes and challenges and share ideas with one another about the future.

​Founding EOCCC members. 
From left: Greg McNally, Lorne Keon, Vic D’Amico, Carole Weir, Ron Deleskie and Kevin Lydon.

The Cooperatives are Created

“We were told no, but the Ministry said they’d give us the funding if we do it for all Catholic boards across the province,” says D’Amico.

And so they did. 

The Eastern Ontario members extended their reach, approaching the Northern, Southern and Western Ontario school boards for support.  Northern Ontario had an existing cooperative while the Southern boards had a similar set-up to that of the Eastern Ontario group. The Western Ontario boards, however, weren’t bridging any of its resources together.

On March 11, 1994, Vic D’Amico along with Joe Di Profio of Northern Ontario, Mike McPhee of Central/ Southern Ontario, and Elizabeth Popovich from the Western Ontario area met as regional representatives to develop a funding proposal that would represent all of Ontario. Five days later, a proposal creating the Ontario Catholic Curriculum Cooperative was sent to the Transitions Assistance Fund. The group requested $1.2 million and submitted letters of support from most Catholic Directors in Ontario.

Five weeks later, the province announced $500,000 in funding to the Ontario Catholic Curriculum Cooperative, and the concept became reality.
A Board of Directors was formed which included Jim Clark, Vic D’Amico, Joe Di Profio and Mike McPhee. Aims and operating principles were established and a budget was struck that allocated the grant as follows: $145,000 to the Community of Catholic School Boards (central), $150,000 to the Eastern Ontario Catholic Curriculum Cooperative, $50,000 to the Northern Ontario Catholic Curriculum Cooperative, $150,000 to the Western Ontario Catholic Curriculum Cooperative and $5,000 to the Ontario Catholic Curriculum Cooperative. The Northern Ontario region
received less funding because it already received financial support from the Ministry of Northern Affairs.

Following six months of brainstorming sessions, proposal writing and province-wide collaboration, the EOCCC concept became a reality – and that’s when the real work got started.

The First Board of Directors’ Meeting

Following the provincial funding announcement, the stakeholders got together on May 25, 1994 to host the Eastern Ontario Catholic Curriculum Cooperatives first official meeting. Representatives from the eight school boards created a Board of Directors, which included one representative from each school board, as well as a representative from the Ministry of Education and OECTA. The EOCCC’s first Board of Directors included: Rhena Charland (OECTA); Jean Stone-Seguin (MET); Vic D’Amico (Carleton), Ron DeLeskie (Hastings Prince Edward County); Lorne Keon (Renfrew County); Kevin Lydon (Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry); Greg McNally (Lanark, Leeds & Grenville); Mike Moher (Ottawa), Mike O’Connor (Prescott- Russell) and Carole Weir (Frontenac-Lennox and Addington). D’Amico was named Chair and he eventually became the Executive Director following his retirement with the Ottawa Catholic School Board.
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Once the jobs were determined, the group launched its project development sessions: the excitement for this collaboration was obvious.
“The energy at the meetings and planning sessions was contagious. Everyone saw the benefit of collaborating to produce curriculum resources to serve students and staff in classrooms across the jurisdiction,” explained McNally. “One success led to another. It seemed in the late 1990s that the EOCCC had been around for years, yet it was really in its infancy. The positive impact on teaching and learning was immediate.”

The Project Work Begins

Once a year, the EOCCC met to prepare a project development plan for the upcoming academic year.

“We all came to the table and pitched curriculum projects,” explains D’Amico. “We then brainstormed each suggestion and decided how we could accomplish each one. We eventually produced a finalized list of 10 projects we would tackle as a Cooperative.”

A team was then established for each project, bringing together teachers, principals and supervisory officers from across all eight school boards. The EOCCC got full support from all school boards as it meant the boards received project materials for free while their staff members were growing and developing skills when contributing to these projects.

“The people involved in each Project Team would develop superior skills provided by the leader,” says Vic. “They then became better curriculum developers and teachers, which demonstrates how the EOCCC projects, in a sense, provided professional development for all the boards.”
Gerry Bibby agreed. He served as the EOCCC Executive Director from 1999-2007. He stressed the important role the EOCCC played in every educator’s life.

“As educators, still growing in their faith, we as a Cooperative assisted them by inviting them to be part of a Catholic learning community that offered them context, spirituality, spiritual leadership and the power and confidence in their vocations as adult faith leaders in our Ontario Catholic Schools,” he said. “Our resources assisted them in their commitment to a vision of Catholic education with Gospel values at the centre of all their activities.”

Tony Cosentino, Religious Education & Family Life Resource Teacher with the RCCDSB shares this reflection:

“I started working with the EOCCC in 1999, as curriculum was being reorganized to accommodate the Ministry of Education’s Secondary Reform. It was an exciting time. Fr. Mulligan’s prophetic book, ‘Catholic Education, the Future is Now’’, was released that year. The Institute for Catholic Education (ICE) had just published the ‘Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations’ and ‘Educating the Soul’. There was a renewed passion for Catholic education, and desire for authentic Catholic curriculum in Ontario’s schools. The EOCCC accepted a proposal from ICE to partner with them in developing a much-needed Catholic curriculum writing tool. EOCCC Executive Director, Gerry Bibby, and ICE’s Angelo Biotta and Sr. Joan Cronin led a team of Eastern Ontario writers for two years to produce ‘Curriculum Support for Catholic Schools’ (CSFCS). CFSCS was a turning point in Catholic curriculum development in Ontario. It gave shape to an emerging generation of distinctive Catholic curriculum writing throughout the province. Its impact cannot be underestimated. CSFCS had a formative impact on my understanding of Catholic education and I am grateful to have been part of its development.”

France Dupuis, retired FSL consultant with CDSBEO echoes Tony’s sentiments:

​“Pour moi, EOCCC m’a permis d’avoir des ressources en français semblables à celles de mes collègues anglais qui représentent nos valeurs catholiques. EOCCC est le pont qui unit les quatre conseils catholiques anglophones de l’est de l’Ontario et cela m’a permis de travailler étroitement avec des collègues qui m’ont aidée à approfondir mes propres valeurs catholiques et à collaborer sur des projets qui bénéficient nos élèves et nos enseignants autant en français qu’en anglais.”

From Cooperative to Corporation

With any organization, change is inevitable.

When amalgamation occurred in 1998, the eight school boards were reduced to four. Although the amalgamation changed each school board’s geographical boundaries, the EOCCC’s remained the same. It was, however, affected in its numbers as the EOCCC Board of Director’s roster was then reduced to four members.

The EOCCC experienced another structural change, this time within its name. Tying up loose legal ends, the EOCCC became incorporated in 2013, which changed the last C in its name from Cooperative to Corporation.

​When reflecting on how the EOCCC contributed to Catholic education in Eastern Ontario, the Executive Director at the time, Lorne Keon, praises the people.

“This is so much better than we ever anticipated and it has blossomed beyond what we potentially envisioned when it all began.” says Keon. “A great strength of the EOCCC has been the way the four boards have supported it in an unflinching manner. We have worked with some great people and overall, it has been a wonderful success.”

David Giroux, Superintendent of School Effectiveness with ALCDSB, and current President of the EOCCC shares this reflection:

“This is my 30th year in Catholic Education so I remember when EOCCC began! Various units were available to support educators in teaching curriculum that had a distinctly Catholic focus. As a Principal for many years, I promoted the use of EOCCC resources as a curriculum supplement. It was great to see the evolution of the resources over time from paper and print to CD/DVD and now mostly digital. I attended EOCCC conferences as a teacher and as a Principal. I have had the privilege of sitting on the Board of Directors for many years as the CPCO rep and as a Supervisory Officer. I have also had the pleasure of being the President of EOCCC for a number of years. In that role, I have been able to work closely with the Board members and the Executive Director to help guide and support the various projects in which EOCCC has been involved. We have been blessed to have such a unique resource available to the four Catholic school Boards in Eastern Ontario for 25 years.” ​​

​Lorne Keon
Executive Director,
​2007-2015

​David Giroux, ALCDSB
Current EOCCC President

The Mid-Year Retreat

Each year in February, EOCCC offers teachers, principals, superintendents and educational staff an opportunity to attend the Mid-Year Retreat, to reflect, pray and nurture one’s faith by spending some quiet time with God. Religious Education leads from the four member Boards lead faith sessions with songs and prayer that reflect a chosen retreat theme.
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The Galilee Retreat Centre in Arnprior provides a beautiful space where the soul replenishes itself, the body relaxes and the mind experiences transformation. Une atmosphère décontractée et la bonne bouffe nous donnent une combinaison idéale pour des échanges entre collègues et une retraite fabuleuse.

Past and present Mid-Year Committee Members: Cindy Morgan, CDSBEO, Paul Mantha, CDSBEO, Tony Cosentino, RCCDSB and Jan Bentham, OCSB

The Annual Catholic Curriculum Conference

To promote EOCCC new projects and resources, an annual Catholic Curriculum Conference for teachers is hosted in its home territory, alternating from Cornwall, Kingston and Ottawa. Although traditionally it has been an elementary-level conference, the focus of the Conference for several years has been K to 12. Each board sends teachers to this conference to learn about the new EOCCC resources and to learn about current, effective practices and pedagogy presented by classroom teachers from the member boards. Each presenter makes explicit connections to the Religious Education expectations and the Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations.

Catholic teachers and educational staff continue to look for practical resources that build authentic, sound, distinctive Catholic curriculum, bringing together overall expectations with Catholic Social Teachings. The Catholic Curriculum Conference has been great at providing excellent capacity building opportunities not only in our region but by showcasing its materials to school boards across Ontario.

Past and present Conference Committee members, Lisa Trumpour-Panetta and Stacey Porter-Eves, ALCDSB

“I first learned about EOCCC as a classroom teacher in the early 1990s attending the annual Catholic Curriculum Conference. I recall how meaningful the opening prayer service was with students sharing the gift of music with us. It was truly a moving experience. The various sessions allowed us to hear directly from classroom teachers about materials they had written and used in their practice which meant that we left with a valuable resource - with Catholic values at the heart of it - that was ready to use in our classrooms.”

- Lynn Denault
Retired Consultant, RCCDSB

The Website

During its first few years, EOCCC produced a catalogue of available resources and sent it throughout Ontario to promote its curriculum resources. We even sold the resources to public school boards. We would sell print copies of the resources. With time and the advancement of technology, we began to provide CDs to teachers who wanted copies of the resource.

By 2016, EOCCC launched its new website featuring resources grouped by division to allow you to see what’s available for the various subject areas including Religion, Indigenous Education, FSL, Math and other various topics. Access to view our numerous videos that focus on First Nation, Métis and Inuit cultures, as well as classroom videos focusing on math from grades 1 to 9, are easy to launch and all our resources are now free to download.
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EOCCC continuously seeks ways to promote its materials, like the most recent video clip on EOCCC’s Catholic Resources.
“The resources that have been created by educators are phenomenal and so responsive to the current classroom. They have evolved from paper copies to innovative digital interactive resources that can be updated and adapted. The promotional videos and postcards have been well received and continue to be shared to ensure that all educators have access to the great resources. The collaborative opportunities to work with other board teams has been so rewarding. The connections to Catholic Values permeates all resources which is of great importance.”

​- Kim Lacelle, Coordinator, OCSB

“I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the EOCCC M3 and Math Inquiry Projects. These projects have connected me with other passionate educators that share a common vision of Catholic education and effective Math instruction. Each collaborative session provided incredible professional development that continues to impact my pedagogical practices. The experience of collaboratively envisioning, building, shaping, creating and sharing a resource that can be used by all educators in Ontario, is one that I am very fortunate to have been a part of more than once. I am incredibly proud to share these resources and speak about my EOCCC experiences and encourage others to apply to be a part of a writing team. I also enjoyed a personal journey, moving from writer to project lead. I was able to apply everything that I had learned from my knowledgeable, kind, supportive lead and mentor, Kim Lacelle, while leading a team that completed the final component of the M3 resource. This was another amazing experience, from a different perspective.“

- Amanda Cameron, Teacher, OCSB