# Halton Catholic District School Board

The Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) serves over 37,000 students at its 46 elementary schools, 9 secondary schools and 3 continuing education facilities. The HCDSB serves the communities of Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton, and Oakville, with the main Board office (Catholic Education Centre) located in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
The Halton Catholic District School Board is the Catholic 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. A separate school zone was formally established in 1856, in which the Oakville Separate School Board was constituted. Under provincial legislation, separate school zones were later formed in Burlington, Georgetown and Milton.
As part of a province-wide restructuring of school boards initiated by then Minister of Education Bill Davis, Halton's separate school boards were merged to form the Halton County Roman Catholic Separate School Board, which came into effect on January 1, 1969. As a result of the formation of the Regional Municipality of Halton in 1974, it became the "Halton Roman Catholic Separate School Board", and its jurisdiction was extended to the entire Region.
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-language schools in 1986.
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 five secondary schools, later adding four more:
| Initially | Later schools |
| Assumption Secondary (1977) St. Ignatius of Loyola Secondary (1982) Bishop P. F. Reding Secondary (1986) Notre Dame Secondary (1989) St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary (1990) | Christ the King Secondary (2002) Holy Trinity Secondary (2002) Corpus Christi Secondary (2008) St. Francis Xavier Secondary (2013) St Kateri Tekakwitha Secondary (2021) |
Amalgamation also opened the school system to special needs students, and as a result the Special Education Department was created. This occurred in advance of provincial legislation passed in 1980 on the matter.
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—culminating in increased demands on the education system and numerous changes in the education field itself.
As part of the province-wide restructuring of Ontario's school boards as a consequence of the passage of the Fewer School Boards Act, 1997, the Board's schools were transferred to the following new bodies:
* the English-language Separate District School Board No. 46 (which was merged with the former Board at the beginning of 1998), and
* the French-language Separate District School Board No. 64 (which later became the Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud).
The English-language Separate District School Board No. 46 was renamed as the "Halton Catholic District School Board" in 1999.

## About the board

The Halton Catholic District School Board provides educational services to over 37,000 students of all ages, in 46 elementary schools, 9 high schools, and three continuing education facilities.

### Board of trustees

| Name of Trustee | Region | Wards |
| Chair: Marvin Duarte | Milton | 1 and 4 |
| Vice Chair: Brenda Agnew | Burlington | 4 and 5 |
| Kirsten Kelly | Burlington | 1 and 2 |
| Trish Powell | Burlington | 3 and 6 |
| Janet O’Hearn-Czarnota | Halton Hills | N/A |
| Emma Murphy | Milton | 2 and 3 |
| Robert Kennedy | Oakville | 1, 2 and 3 |
| Chris Saunders | Oakville | 4 and 7 |
| Helena Karabela | Oakville | 5 and 6 |
The HCDSB Board of Trustees consists of nine elected Trustees, which are elected every four years during the municipal election. There are three trustees representing Burlington, one representing Halton Hills, two representing Milton, and three representing Oakville, respectively.

### Student Trustees

As required by the Ontario Ministry of Education, the HCDSB keeps three student trustees. The student trustees are elected every year by the student senate. There are three student trustees, one for Oakville, one for Burlington, and one to represent the entirety of North Halton (Milton, Georgetown, Acton, Halton Hills). Student trustees attend all regular board meetings, although their vote is non-binding. They are allowed to voice their opinions on issues important to students in the board. The following students have been elected to serve on the Board.
Student trustees at the HCDSB, by term :
| Term | Trustees |
| 2023-2024 | Lauren McGuire (St. Ignatius Loyola, Oakville) Arianna Chua (St. Francis Xavier, Milton) Diya Deepu (Assumption CSS, Burlington) |
| 2022-2023 | Katie Bowie (St. Ignatius Loyola, Oakville) Arianna Chua (St. Francis Xavier, Milton) Brady Kuzma (Corpus Christi CSS, Burlington) |
| 2021-2022 | Katie Bowie (St. Ignatius Loyola, Oakville) Alicia Tokiwa (Christ the King, Georgetown) Gabriela Masri Ahmar (Corpus Christi CSS, Burlington) |
| 2020-2021 | Joseph Roshdy (St. Ignatius Loyola, Oakville) Nicholas Gubert (Christ the King, Georgetown) Kirsten Kelly (Assumption CSS, Burlington) |
| 2019-2020 | Malika Bhambra (St. Thomas Aquinas, Oakville) Davin Caratao (Bishop Reding CSS, Milton) Dylex Suan (Corpus Christi CSS, Burlington) |
| 2018-2019 | William Charlebois (Holy Trinity CSS, Oakville) Denzel Herrero (Jean Vanier CSS, Milton) Stephanie Mazza (Assumption CSS, Burlington) |
| 2017-2018 | Christina Atrach (Christ the King CSS, Halton Hills) Anamaria Barbul (Holy Trinity CSS, Oakville) Ingrid Schwecht (Assumption CSS, Burlington) |
| 2016-2017 | Christina Atrach (Christ the King CSS, Halton Hills) Ingrid Schwecht (Assumption CSS, Burlington) Manuela Zapata (St. Thomas Aquinas, Oakville) |
| 2015-2016 | Jackson Brown (Corpus Christi CSS, Burlington) Chloe Kemeni (Bishop Reding CSS, Milton) Manuela Zapata (St. Thomas Aquinas, Oakville) |
| 2014-2015 | Jason Barron (Notre Dame CSS, Burlington) Chloe Kemeni (Bishop Reding CSS, Milton) Joel Louzado (St. Ignatius Loyola, Oakville) |
| 2013-2014 | Jason Barron (Notre Dame CSS, Burlington) Erika Shepherd (Christ the King CSS, Halton Hills) Maria Thomas (St. Thomas Aquinas, Oakville |
| 2012-2013 | Jarrod Baddeliyanage (St. Ignatius Loyola, Oakville) Noah Parker (Notre Dame CSS, Burlington) Emily Wilson (Christ the King CSS, Halton Hills) |
| 2011-2012 | Emily Bradley (Bishop Reding CSS, Milton) Emma Harper (Corpus Christi CSS, Burlington) Clarisse Schneider (St. Ignatius Loyola, Oakville) |
| 2010-2011 | Christiane Peric (Christ the King CSS, Halton Hills) Clarisse Schneider (St. Ignatius Loyola, Oakville) |
| 2009-2010 | Briar Culbert (Notre Dame CSS, Burlington) Chelsea Gray (St. Thomas Aquinas CSS, Oakville) Steven Slowka (Christ the King CSS, Halton Hills) |
| 2008-2009 | Neil Bourque (Notre Dame CSS, Burlington) Philip Cockburn (Christ the King CSS, Halton Hills) Chloé Restivo (Holy Trinity CSS, Oakville) |
| 2007-2008 | Erin Gamble (Holy Trinity CSS, Oakville) Teanna Lobo (Notre Dame CSS, Burlington) Kelly Medeiros (Bishop Reding CSS, Milton) |
| 2006-2007 | Ryan Durran (Burlington) Heather MacKinnon (North Halton) Jaclyn Peluso (Oakville) |
| 2005-2006 | Anthony Luna (North Halton) Amy O'Brien (Burlington) Lindsay Robertson (Oakville) |

### Student Senate

The Student Senate is a committee of approximately 80 members (3-8 from each secondary school) designed as an advisory body to the Student Trustees, which in turn relay their concerns or recommendations to regular Board Meetings. Student Senators are picked yearly, through an application process. All students are eligible to apply, with the exception of ninth graders as the application process ends the year before.

## Schools
### Continuing Education

* Thomas Merton Centre for Continuing Education (Burlington)
* Thomas Merton Centre for Continuing Education (Milton)
* Thomas Merton Centre for Continuing Education (Oakville)
Source:

### Families of Schools

| City | Secondary School | Associate Elementary Schools |
| Burlington | Assumption CSS | Ascension Catholic Elementary School Holy Rosary Catholic Elementary School St. John Catholic Elementary School St. Patrick Catholic Elementary School St. Paul Catholic Elementary School St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School |
| Burlington | Corpus Christi CSS | *Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Elementary School St. Anne Catholic Elementary School St. Christopher Catholic Elementary School St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Elementary School |
| Burlington | Notre Dame CSS | Canadian Martyrs Catholic Elementary School St. Gabriel Catholic Elementary School St. Mark Catholic Elementary School St. Timothy Catholic Elementary School |
| Oakville | Holy Trinity CSS | Our Lady of Peace Catholic Elementary School St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School St. John Catholic Elementary School St. Marguerite D'Youville Catholic Elementary School St. Michael Catholic Elementary School |
| Oakville | St. Ignatius of Loyola CSS | St. Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Elementary School St. Bernadette Catholic Elementary School St. Gregory the Great Catholic Elementary School St. Joan of Arc Catholic Elementary School St. John Paul II Catholic Elementary School St. Matthew Catholic Elementary School |
| Oakville | St. Thomas Aquinas CSS | Holy Family Catholic Elementary School St. Dominic Catholic Elementary School St. Nicholas Catholic Elementary School St. Luke Catholic Elementary School St. Mary Catholic Elementary School St. Vincent Catholic Elementary School |
| Milton | Bishop P.F. Reding CSS | Holy Rosary Catholic Elementary School Our Lady of Victory Catholic Elementary School St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Elementary School St. Peter Catholic Elementary School |
| Milton | St. Francis Xavier CSS | Lumen Christi Catholic Elementary School Queen of Heaven Catholic Elementary School St. Benedict Catholic Elementary School St. Josephine Bakhita Catholic Elementary School St. Scholastica Catholic Elementary School |
| Milton | St. Kateri Tekakwitha CSS | Guardian Angels Catholic Elementary School Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Elementary School St. Veronica Catholic Elementary School |
| Halton Hills | Christ the King CSS | Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School St. Brigid Catholic Elementary School St. Catherine of Alexandria Catholic Elementary School St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School St. Joseph (Acton) Catholic Elementary School |
Source: