Alberta board plans to drop Christian school
Controversy over teaching of Bible verses unresolved
An Alberta school board has severed ties with a Christian school after a request that the school stop teaching “offensive” Bible verses morphed into a web of censorship, confusion and hurt feelings, a school official said.
The board of the Battle River School Division in Camrose sent a notice of termination to Cornerstone Christian Academy, a public kindergarten to Grade 12 school in Kingman, a hamlet with a population of 103 about an hour outside of Edmonton.
To avoid disrupting next year’s classes, the termination won’t take effect for 12 months.
“The 365-day transition also means there is still opportunity in the next few months to reach an understanding and the transition process can stop. It is the sincere hope of the board that a positive resolution can be reached,” wrote spokeswoman Diane Hutchinson in an email to the Post.
The dispute began last month when board chair Laurie Skori sent the school an email saying “any scripture that could be considered offensive to particular individuals should not be read or studied in school.” The email set off national media coverage and a debate about religious freedom.
The termination letter says the board “must ensure that any educational programming provided complies with ... the Alberta Human Rights Act and the School Act. Unless those concerns can be resolved, we are unable to maintain the current relationship.”
Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms president John Carpay said: “That seems to insinuate that the (school) was somehow not in compliance with (the acts). But the school has not failed to comply with anything.”
Hutchinson was asked twice whether the board thought the school was in contravention of the acts.
“I think the statement about resolving concerns is referring to all of the previous sentences and not specifically to the one sentence,” she replied.
The school retained the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a conservative legal organization, in June to provide advice. Carpay sent an eight-page letter to Skori telling the board to retract its demands.
Shortly thereafter, Skori walked back her request, and the two sides agreed to talk it out.
Talks between the school and the board seemed to be going well, said school chair Deanna Margel. They even issued a joint statement reaffirming that the board wouldn’t censor school teachings, and they were “committed to moving forward together, in a positive way.”
But shortly after the statement was released, the board asked the school to sign a document that would “limit the release of information to the general public or the media” and ban releases of communications between the two parties.
Carpay called the addendum a “gag order” that would prevent the school from sharing information with parents.
Hutchinson said the parties needed to address how they will communicate with each other and the public.
“Ideally, if an issue was to arise, BRSD and the CCA Society would work together to address it and jointly share information with parents,” she wrote, noting the document was an unfinished draft, so “it’s impossible to say what the final document might have included.”
Margel thinks personal feelings had something to do with the addendum.
In a June board meeting, Skori was clear about her frustration that the school went to the media.
“The actions of the Society ... have put our children, our staff, our school and our school division in harm’s way,” she said, adding the board is now “at the centre of a firestorm.”
Hutchinson said “(Skori) has been the recipient of extremely accusatory, disturbing and hateful messages.”
Margel said the school sent an email to the board to let them know they wouldn’t sign it. They didn’t hear anything back, she said, then two days later, Skori showed up at her house with the termination letter.
The Alberta government has not spoken on the issue, and NDP education spokesman Jeremy Nolais said it was “too early to speculate” about the school’s future.