Private schools are safe and caring

Minister David Eggen and Alberta Education are determined to force their Safe and Caring policy on all private schools in the province.

You would think that they are doing so to bring the horrible environments at these schools up to the standard of excellence enjoyed in the public system. This is, however, not the case, as most of these schools score significantly higher as providers of safe and caring environments for their students.

Minister Eggen should be seeking advice from these schools on how to create a safe and caring environment for students, instead of forcing them to adopt his own.

It would also seem that the minister and his associates are themselves in a position to learn from these schools that they have put under duress, as their tactics (picking fights, threatening, intimidation) are the very actions that Safe and Caring policies strive to prevent. I hope that Minister Eggen will set an example of inclusiveness and embrace the positive impact that these schools and their students have on our communities and our province. I’m sure that the young Albertans who are enrolled in the schools being threatened don’t feel like he cares about them. Thankfully, at least their parents, teachers, and peers do.

Carl Werkman, Bloomsbury