Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools have made it a goal of providing Morinville families a secular education option for their children come September.
The publicly funded Catholic school division — the only school district in Morinville — will seek a third party to do so, and in the meantime task Pivotal Research with conducting a sample survey to gauge the public interest for such a move.
But the parents coming forward to demand the option are less than convinced.
"Does it make sense to do a survey to determine public interest on a guaranteed public secular education?" said Morinville parent Donna Hunter. "I thought that is what was offered as a matter of course."
The survey was announced at a closed meeting between Hunter and several other parents and the school division Monday evening.
It should not matter whether the survey comes back showing one or 500 wanting the option, she feels.
Hunter also believes her position is backed by a letter from Education Minister Dave Hancock's office stating the non-denominational education requested should be provided.
Lauri-Ann Turnbull, chair of the Catholic board, said the school division will not directly offer secular education but will seek a partner to do so in its place.
"At the end of the day, what we do at Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools will continue to be the same in September," said Turnbull. "The only change will be that there will be a secular option available to parents."
Sturgeon, Catholic boards to talk
Which organization will provide the secular school options remains unknown, but there is potentially one willing party.
A couple of months back the parents of Morinville approached the Sturgeon School Division and requested it offer secular education in town.
The two school districts will meet on April 20 to discuss that possibility.
"I think at this point it's speaking to them as to their willingness to provide a program in Morinville of a secular nature," said Turnbull. "It's broad scope, looking at it at this point, of course."
"We are a public education institution and we do provide that kind of programming," said Michele Dick, superintendent for Sturgeon School Division. "And we're advocates for public education so we will see how this unfolds."
Dick noted her own division must be respectful of the Catholic district's position as the publicly funded Catholic district.
But her staff is looking into the "considerations and implications" of stepping into the picture.
Sturgeon School Division also has a meeting with Hancock next week.
"There is quite a bit that needs to be done before [our board] can make any determinations at all," said Dick. "It is a very complex issue."
Hunter said whatever is going to be sorted needs to be sorted sooner rather than later.
