The group that spearheaded efforts to bring secular public education to Morinville will be recognized this Friday with an award from the Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta.
The Morinville parents delegation will receive an award for a special contribution to public school education at the Sutton Place Hotel in Edmonton.
“It’s amazing to be recognized for what we fought so hard for,” said Eva Scrimshaw, who was a member of the delegation and is the current school council chair at Morinville Public Elementary. “We all just think it’s just wonderful.”
Scrimshaw said, as school council chair, she continues to try and ensure that public, secular education is available to students of every grade level. “No one should be busing out of Morinville,” she said.
This isn’t the first round of formal accolades for the group, which received an award from the Alberta Civil Liberties Association in 2011. Donna Hunter, who was at the forefront of the group’s efforts, was also named a 2012 woman of the year by FIERCE, an organization that celebrates women’s accomplishments.
Hunter said she’s ecstatic the group is receiving an award from this particular association.
“I really feel like it should be the other way around,” she said, explaining that the Public School Boards’ Association stood beside the parents during the struggle to get a secular school.
“I’m so proud of the parents,” Hunter said.
The special contribution category is new for the Public School Boards’ Association, said president Patty Dittrick. The Morinville parent delegation was selected for the award because the group challenged the status quo even though it would have been much easier to go along with it.
“These were parents that even though they were told no a number of times, each time there was a roadblock put in front of them they looked and said ‘How can we cross this hurdle?’” she said.
