A group of Morinville parents battling for access to secular education is crying foul over an ad running in local newspapers it claims is biased.
Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division (GSACRD), which runs all of the town’s schools, has said it will not provide the non-religious alternative itself. Instead it would conduct a sample survey to gauge interest and bring in a third party to develop a suitable program based on the results.
Last week an ad for this survey showed up in the pages of Morinville’s local newspaper.
The ad states it is “in response to a request for an education option in the community that does not include any religious instruction, references, symbols or celebration,” and was enough to raise the ire of Morinville parent Donna Hunter and a few others.
“We’ve never said that there shouldn’t be Catholic education,” said Hunter. “It is so biased. That’s saying we’re anti-religious, we want the walls stripped, we don’t want Christmas and don’t want Easter … and that was not the request that we made.”
Hunter said the parents wanting secular education for their kids are pro-public, not anti-Catholic, and believes there is a large difference between the two.
Hunter is used to taking heat from disagreeing community members over her very public stance. She wondered how the Sturgeon School Division would feel being referred to that way as it has met with GSACRD about the idea of this collaborative effort to provide an alternative.
Lauri-Ann Turnbull, chairwoman for the GSACRD board of trustees, said there was no swipe being made at anyone in the ad the school division ran.
“The reason why the preamble is in there is to help people in Morinville understand what a secular or non-faith-based education is,” she said. “I think if you are going to ask people to commit, you must let them know what it is.”
Hunter and other parents have expressed distaste over the survey as a whole.
The fact that it is a sample survey, rather than a full-on census does not sit well with them – they say they want to see concrete numbers. And they want to see them yesterday.
GSACRD stands behind this survey, which is expected to wrap up by the end of this month.
Targeting 400 families, Turnbull said the survey will catch many people.
“We’re going above and beyond what we were asked to do,” she said. “We’re talking to all of the parents who already have their children in school and to anyone who had filled out their registrations by the end of the day April 26. By doing that, we will know absolutely what the numbers will be.”
