Trustees Honoured at Final Board Meeting
The CDSBEO bid farewell to three Trustees on November 1, at the final Board Meeting for this term. Trustees Ron Eamer, Paula Hart, and Board Chair Todd Lalonde, all of whom did not seek re-election this fall, leave the Board having had a tremendous impact on schools, students, and Catholic education locally and in the province of Ontario.
Trustee for City of Cornwall and Glengarry County Ron Eamer, a longstanding member of the CDSBEO Board of Trustees, has served Catholic education since 1981, when he began his tenure as a Trustee for the Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry County Roman Catholic Separate School Board (SDGRCSSB). From 2001 to 2010, Trustee Eamer held the position of Board Chair with CDSBEO, as well as Vice-Chair in 2000, 2017 and 2018.
To celebrate a remarkable 41 years of service to Catholic education in Ontario, Trustee Eamer was presented with a framed letter of gratitude from the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association.
“On behalf of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association, I join your colleague Trustees and all throughout the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario in thanking you for your many years of sacrifices and faith-filled service,” the letter stated. “Beyond the enormous contribution you have made to the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Roman Catholic Separate School Board and the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario, I commend you as well for your good work at the provincial level. Your presence at numerous OCSTA events and wise counsel has helped shape the priorities and advocacy work of our Association.”
CDSBEO Board Chair Todd Lalonde has served as Catholic School Board Trustee for the City of Cornwall and Glengarry County for 16 years, and has held the role of both Vice-Chair and Chair for 11 of those years. Chair Lalonde has also served as Region 10 Director for the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association (OCSTA) Board of Directors for four consecutive terms from 2014 to 2022.
Paula Hart served as CDSBEO Trustee for City of Brockville, Town of Smiths Falls and Leeds County since November 2021, after a robust 30-year career in education. During her career, Trustee Hart taught at St. Mark (Prescott), and J.L. Jordan and St. John Bosco (Brockville), educated students through the Summer Learning Program, and held tenure as Acting Vice-Principal.
The CDSBEO community would like to thank our Trustees for their dedication and devotion to Catholic education in their role.
“Trustee Eamer, I want to thank you for the gift of generations – the oversight of governance which spanned over 40 years. Trustee Hart, I want to thank you for the gift of timeliness at a time when your service was needed. Chair Lalonde, I want to thank you for your gift of leadership of the Board of Trustees during some of the most challenging times in recent memory. To all of the Trustees of the Board, I want to thank you for your good governance and unity in support of CDSBEO and Catholic education in the province of Ontario. I wish you all every blessing in the days ahead.” – Laurie Corrigan, CDSBEO Director of Education.