Just when you think you have all the answers, they go and change the questions. That’s certainly how parents pushing for secular education in Morinville have been feeling for the past week since news came out that the modular classrooms they were banking on for instructional space might not arrive and get hooked up until December.
While some of the blame for this situation will surely fall at the feet of the Sturgeon School Division and the Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division (GSACRD) — the two divisions partnering up to provide secular programming in the town where, historically, only Catholic education has been offered — heaping too much of it there is certainly unwarranted. If parents are looking for anyone to blame, they should look squarely at the Alberta government.
An Alberta Education spokesperson told the St. Albert Gazette last week that there are 52 requests for modular classrooms across the province and there just aren’t enough to go around.
But Alberta Education’s lack of foresight in dealing with this situation sounds plenty of alarm bells. It would be unfair for Morinville to jump the modular classroom queue, but if so many schools were requesting modular classrooms — requests that must have been made months in advance — why would Alberta Education and the Sturgeon School Division give parents the impression modulars could be available for September at a registration and information session in June? Given the time devoted to allaying parents’ fears about them at that meeting, it seemed like they were the option being considered.
Even if things weren’t finalized yet, officials should have seen what the likely outcomes would be and started the ball rolling much sooner on either expediting the modular classroom acquisition process or finding another suitable space within town limits.
Both the Sturgeon School Division and GSACRD say they are still committed to providing secular education in Morinville and, frankly, they had better be. As has been pointed out repeatedly by parents over the past few months, public secular education is something to which they have a right. And, as we have seen, their resolve is unwavering. If that right gets taken away now, those parents are sure to raise a ruckus 10 times louder than anything we’ve seen up to this point. Since last week’s announcement, some parents have gone as far to suggest that GSACRD hand over the keys to one of their elementary schools. Of course, that’s not a realistic option, but it points to the passion driving the secular agenda.
At this juncture, that right has not been taken away — it has merely been delayed. Right now, “patience” is the operative word for parents. They have waited this long to put their kids into a secular education program in Morinville, and while it’s not terribly fair to have the rug pulled out from under them at such a late stage, they will be getting their kids that education, just with the unfortunate add-on of a lengthy bus ride for a few months to start.
Modular classrooms might not be hooked up until December — or later — but one thing’s for certain: No amount of time is going to erode the will for secular education in Morinville.
