Morinville school fight ends

Transfer of Catholic facility will give town a public option

MORINVILLE – After a lengthy battle between parents and school board officials, Morinville residents will finally have a public elementary school as an option in September.

Effective July 1, Ecole Georges P. Vanier School, a kindergarten to Grade 5 elementary school at 10020 101st Ave., will be transferred from the soonto-be dissolved Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division school board to the Sturgeon School Division, the public school board.

All other Morinville schools will continue to be part of Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Donna Hunter, one of several parents who have been fighting since 2010 to have a secular school in Morinville. “It’s like two years of emotion have just come boiling out of my chest.”

The town of about 8,500 has two elementary schools, one junior high and one high school, all operated by Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools. The religious schools were designated public because when the division was created, Morinville was predominantly Catholic.

Marjorie Kirsop was shocked to learn her kids, who are not Catholic, participated in prayer and made the sign of the cross every morning.

Hunter and Kirsop asked the school district to exempt their children from religious discussions or events. The board denied the request, saying its mandate was to provide a faith-based education. The parents filed an appeal with Alberta Education.

The parents’ later submission to the Alberta Human Rights Commission was also refused for review.

“As someone who was born and raised in Canada, public school is a given,” Kirsop said.

“The only option they gave us where my kids could stay in the school was to accept a fully Catholic-permeated education. I just thought, ‘How could that be?’ This is a public school system.”

Vanier’s transfer to the public board means current students will be moved to other schools.

David Keohane, superintendent for the Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division, expects all of the students at Georges P. Vanier to choose a Catholic education. Of the nearly 400 students at Vanier, about 125 will attend junior high at Ecole Georges H. Primeau, with the remainder placed in seven modular units added to Notre Dame Elementary.

On Friday, parents at Vanier were concerned about the transfer.

“I support the need for a public school system, but I don’t necessarily agree with disrupting 350 students and moving them to a school that is already overcrowded,” Charlene Whitfield said, standing at the edge of the playground, her child’s backpack at her feet. “My concern is that my children’s education will be compromised.”

Buckling his two boys into his car, Dean Little said he was disappointed.

“We kind of liked it the way it was,” he said. “We liked having the church and religious instruction as part of the school.”

Education Minister Jeff Johnson said he worked with local MLAs and school boards to make the decision.

Mainly, the department wanted a permanent solution that would cause minimal disruption for students and the community.

“In the end, it was a decision we had to make at the ministry and cabinet level, and we realize it’s a challenging decision for many people in the community, and that there are some folks who won’t be thrilled.

“We appreciate their frustration, but we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got choices in that community and that we’ve got the proper facilities for all students.”

Staff redistribution, retirements and the expiration of temporary contracts will likely mean that the staff at Vanier will still have jobs with the Catholic school board.

The Sturgeon School Division will staff the building once it takes possession on July 1, superintendent Terry Jewell said.

The transfer was made possible by an act passed Thursday by the legislature that expands the Sturgeon School Division, dissolves the Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division and the St. Albert Protestant School Division, and establishes the Greater St. Albert Roman Catholic Separate School District and the St. Albert Public School District.

The public school operating from Vanier will be ready for September enrolment.