The Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division (GSACRD) has turned down a request to provide a fully secular public education in Morinville saying such a request is contrary to the division’s values and policies.
Trustees voted unanimously on Monday to not support the request that GSACRD support a “fully secular, non faith-based education.”
“This request recommends an outcome that is entirely contrary to the reason for the board’s existence and consequently its fiduciary responsibility to its public,” superintendent David Keohane on Monday.
Donna Hunter, whose daughter attends Notre Dame Elementary in Morinville, made a request to the board on Dec. 13 along with several other parents. She argued that a public school education is a secular education and should exclude religious instruction.
In the last month, Hunter said she has received additional support from parents in the community but said while many parents support her efforts, they are afraid to come forward with their concerns.
All four public schools in Morinville fall under the GSACRD, a public school division offering a “Christian environment that is rooted in Catholic principles,” according to the district’s website.
The board provided Hunter with seven possible solutions for a secular education in Morinville:
• form a separate school in the Morinville area;
( establish a private school, including a home education or charter school program;
( approach any secular public school system in Alberta for the purpose of establishing an alternative program in Morinville;
( approach any secular public school system in Alberta for the purpose of accessing a distance-learning program, online or otherwise;
( privately transport children to secular Protestant separate schools in St. Albert or the public schools in Sturgeon or elsewhere.
The board also suggested it could enter into a transportation agreement with another school division to transport children from Morinville to the closest secular public school alternative.
Currently, the division has a similar agreement in place that sees students bused from Sturgeon County to Morinville for French immersion.
Lastly, the board suggested that Hunter’s children could be excluded, without academic penalty, from religious instruction.
However, in a recent position paper on the School Act review process sent to Alberta Education, the Alberta Catholic Schools Trustees’ Association (ACSTA) said it wants to remove section 50(2) from the School Act, which gives parents the right to remove their children from religion class.
It argued the essential purpose of Catholic schools is to fully permeate Catholic theology, philosophy, practice and principles in all aspects of school life.
“The ACSTA recommendation is structured so that Catholic school divisions don’t have to be apologetic about who they are,” said Keohane.
“From a purely Catholic point of view, we always respect the right of the parent to be the primary educator of the child,” he said.
“It is easier just to move?” asked Carol Sparks, one of five parents in attendance on Monday.
“Is that the message we should be sending?”
Trustee Dave Caron said that, while he respected Hunter’s right to request a secular school, “I know our division can’t be something that we’re not. We are a Catholic school division.
“Catholic schools by their very nature permeate the Catholic tradition that we aspire to. That’s why you see crucifixes in the buildings, that’s why the December student concert isn’t a seasonal concert, it isn’t a holiday concert, it’s a Christmas concert,” he said.
He said the form of Catholic education offered in both Morinville and Legal was about “accessibility and invitation.”
Hunter said that she was disappointed by the board’s response to her request.
“My request was to have a public school like the public schools across Alberta and they’ve said that that’s not going to happen, so of course I’m disappointed,” she said after the meeting.
Even if a transportation agreement were in place, Hunter said she wasn’t thrilled with the idea of busing her children outside of the community.
“If I’m a non-resident of another school board, I don’t get to run as a trustee, I don’t get to vote for trustees, I give up democratic rights that I should be entitled to.”
She said she would look into the establishment of an alternative school in Morinville.
While she waits for the board’s official response in writing, Hunter said she will closely go over all the board’s solutions.
“Obviously we’ll pursue whatever we can because we still feel we’re entitled to a non-faith-based public school education.”
