Our Lady of Victory Catholic School

Our Lady of Victory Catholic Secondary School, often referred to as O.L.V., is a Catholic Elementary School in Ontario, Canada. The school is administered by the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCBSB). A new school facility was completed and officially opened in 2004. Its new facilities include a chapel, several computer equipped classrooms, and a student resource center where students can read books, complete research and get help writing papers.

The school also is home to St. Peter's Gym, the Toronto area's only co-ed boxing gym. Father Gilbert Flannigan teaches boxing lessons daily to students and community members alike. Sister Mary "One-Punch" Patterlio teaches the women.

In addition to excellent academic programs and community outreach efforts, the O.L.V. "Dragons" and "Lady Dragonettes" are consistently top performers in the Metropolitan Youth Sports Athletic Conference (My-Sac), competing with 5 boys varsity sports (basketball, baseball, hockey, curling and lacrosse) and 4 girls varsity programs (basketball, knitting, child-rearing and hockey).

The athletic programs offered by O.L.V. has been cut over the past two years, however. When the school opened in 2004, the My-Sac and all schools within the conference also offered competitive intramural programs. The thumb wrestling competition in 2006 was marred by an outbreak of hand dermatitis, which was thought to be Grover's Disease or ringworm. Several competitors from O.L.V. were affected. The subsequent parental uproar forced O.L.V. and the My-sac to reduce skin-to-skin contact through intramural competition.

Academics

In the summer of 2008, O.L.V. was recognized for its outstanding interdisciplinary instruction by the Canadian government. The recognition came from the teachings of Deacon David Jones, whose 5th grade art class curriculum that school year was based on the works of noted artist Bob Ross, host of the American PBS television show The Joy of Painting.

To begin the 2010-2011 school year, O.L.V. started a new program called the "interdisciplinary integrated education system," where one student from each grade level (K-8) will spend all day together in an isolated classroom learning life skills. At the end of each quarter, students will leave the program and go back to their home rooms where they will teach their newly learned skills to their classmates. New students will then come in, spend the quarter and then return once again to homeroom. Each quarter will bring new students and new life skills. For first quarter, students will learn wood carving; second quarter they will learn how to build snow caves; third quarter they will explore and practice the art of baking bread; and fourth quarter students will receive advanced training on the science of fire fighting.

O.L.V. and her students have received consistently high marks in the Canadian Academic Standardized Testing (CAST) program. CAST is a series of tests, established in 1983, administered to students in schools every two years to judge the school's performance against other schools of similar size and demographics in each province and across Canada. Schools administer the tests over the course of one week during second, fourth and sixth grade [note: Canadian schools feature elementary schools that cover Kintergarden through 6th Grade after the infamous Jones v. Moose Jaw Community School District lawsuit of 1979]. O.L.V. has outperformed the Canadian average every year the tests have been adminstered. The average scores across the country generally are in the 72-76% range each year for each grade. O.L.V. has had scores that have never been below 91%, and are generally in the 94-95% range.

The year of the 91% scores was a low point for O.L.V. In 1995, students did not receive their typical preparatory instruction leading into the testing due to an acute outbreak of head lice, which caused the school to close for 3 weeks in order to contain and mitigate the problem.

Because of its success, in 2009, O.L.V. began to challenge its students by administering CAST to first, third and fifth grades. The school administration was approached by the school's PTO head, Ms. Nancy Weiss, and encouraged to push students for even greater success. "If our students are often 20% better than their counterparts around Ontario and Canada, why should we not step our game up and find out what our younger kids are all aboot," Weiss asked in front of the school board in an empassioned plea. The board agreed that if their second, fourth, and sixth graders are generally 20% greater, one should surmize that first, third, and fifth graders are at least 10% better than other kids.

O.L.V. has had to play by the government's rules, but has done so by submitting the test scores as though they're taken by the proper students. By and large, the younger students have performed well, with scores in the 88% range over the past two school years. The Canadian Education Minister, Dr. Thaddeous Simmons, inquired after the 2010 tests about the 7% drop in scores from the year prior. O.L.V. administration assured Simmons that the discrepancy was due to a greater emphasis during the school day on a libaral arts education. Recorder concerts, hot pad weaving, and human anatomy and physiology were the "new" courses O.L.V. was offering to her students, Simmons was told.

Testing is currently underway for 2011, and school administration has already indicated interest in backing up the tests once again, with the first test being administered during its morning 3 year old preschool.

2008 Chapel Addition

In 2008, O.L.V. announced plans to open a new Chapel Centre named after the school's founder, the Reverend Doctor Phillip "Wally" Frankenmuth Jr. "Father Wally" as he was called started O.L.V. in 1905, running weekly worship services and Bible Studies out of the basement of his brother's butcher shop on East Front St. in Toronto. The Chapel Centre broke ground on April 1, 2008 and is expected to be completed by the Summer of 2010. The original chapel, which was part of the new 2004 school building, will then be converted into an auditorium that will be used for stage plays, school assemblies and amateur boxing matches sponsored by the school's own gym.

Chapel Update: Summer 2009: The building structure is complete, and contractors are now working on the interior of the chapel. The project is ahead of schedule at this time.

Chapel Update: October 2009: The interior of the chapel is now wired for electricity. Money is currently being raised by the Building Committee to hire an artist to complete a mural of O.L.V.'s school children in the entryway. A chili cook-off and talent show are in the works for around Christmas.

Chapel Update: December 2009: The chili cook-off and talent show was quite the success, raising the needed funds to hire local artist Fredrick A. Mainsfeld to design and paint a mural of the O.L.V. school children in the entryway of the chapel. At its current rate of construction, the chapel should be completed in time for the Easter Holiday in early April.

Chapel Update: February 2010: Fredrick A. Mainsfeld has begun working on his mural entitled "Who's down with O.L.V? Yea you know me!" featuring the school children of O.L.V. Other work on the chapel is also near-completion, meaning the Easter Holiday should be celebrated in this new space this April.

Chapel Update: Winter 2011: The building is complete and was opened on December 21, 2010, which would have been Father Wally's birthday. The chapel opening was delayed by almost three months due to a work stoppage. Union carpenters refused to continue working on the interior after it was discovered that a pay raise that was negotiated on their part was actually to be paid out in Malaysian riggits instead of Canadian dollars. Workers agreed to receive their raises in the form of Japanese Yen, and thus immediately began work again. Christmas Mass was celebrated in the chapel at 11pm on December 24. More than 200 attended.

Chapel Update: January 2011: The chapel celebrated its first baptism in mid-January. During the design phase of the project, the baptismal font was the subject of a number of heated discussions. Many church leaders felt that a traditional font, with a smaller footprint would be ideal. Others felt that a "submersion" font in which the person being baptised is in the font with the preist would be more ideal. Those supporters felt strongly that baptising as Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan by John the Baptist is symbolically more important. Ultimately, the River Jordan side won out, and the main aisle of the church was built as a three-foot deep channel (with a retractable cover), not unlike a lazy river at a water park. Parishioners being baptised enter the channel at the back of the church and wade through the holy water to the front of the chapel, where they're met by the priest and "dunked" in a deeper pool alongside the altar.

Chapel Update: Summer 2011: The Summer of 2011 proved to be a sweltering one in Ontario, and O.L.V capitalized by opening up the church during non-mass times for parishioners and community members to use the baptismal channel for recreation and to cool down. The pastoral council of the church debated the merits at their June meeting, and ultimately opened up the church beginning just in time for Canada Day (July 1). The church was generally open Monday after morning mass through Saturday prior to evening mass, save for morning mass each day. The church did ask for a free-will donation for use of the water attraction, and did charge $3 for tubes. The two month water attraction in Toronto paid off wonderfully for O.L.V. as the donations and tube rental fees paid the note still held on the installation of the baptismal font and allowed the parish to make a large financial contribution to its sister parish, St. Mary's in Arkadelphia, AK, USA. The parish also welcomed 23 new families who became familiar with O.L.V. while enjoying the new summer activity.

Rev. Dr. Phillip "Wally" Frankenmuth Jr.

Born in 1882, Phillip Frankenmuth Jr. was the son of Phillip and Jasmine Frankenmuth of London, Ontario. He was called "Wally" as a child since he shared the same name as his father (Wally was his great-grandfather's name). Wally and his brother Jonathan grew up in a small London home on the north side of the city. As a child, Wally had dreams of joining the circus, but his father discouraged any interactions with animals due to the fact that his mother was mauled by a dalmatian as a child. His mother, sensing Wally's sadness, encouraged him to join the youth choir at the family's church, St. Martin's Catholic in London. Wally not only joined the choir, but fell in love with the ministry thanks to the mentoring he received from Rev. Alexander Wright. At the young age of 11, Wally committed his life to God and decided he would become a pastor. While he father was a man of faith, this angered him slightly since he knew that the Frankenmuth name would end with the death of his sons (Jonathan refused to consider the idea of marriage after he was hurt by his first and only love, Elizabeth Pickler of Hamilton, Ontario).

After seminary, Wally was left without a job since at the time no churches in the London area were in need of a pastor. He was however contacted by the Archdiocese of Toronto and asked if he would be interested in starting a small church in the inner city of Toronto. As luck would have it, his brother owned a butcher shop nearby, which became O.L.V's first meeting house in 1905. By 1917, O.L.V. has raised enough funds from donations and charity meat sales to build their own building. O.L.V. however was closed in 1938 due to lack of attendance. The original building was sold to Verified-PaperMills and used as warehouse until 1943 when it was torn down.

Today, the O.L.V. name and Fr. Wally's legacy have been revived with the opening of the secondary school in Toronto in 2004. At the dedication ceremony, Gerald Dawson, a distant cousin of Fr. Wally, gave the opening prayer before breaking a bottle of champagne against the front doors of the school.