Aug 10
30
Alberta gov’t school parents to enjoy more parental rights?
Calgary Herald – August 29, 2010
Bill 44: Parental rights measure welcomed and feared
By Renata D’aliesio
CALGARY – Calgary mother Maria Doll thinks schools should mainly stick to teaching the three Rs – reading, writing and arithmetic – and leave lessons on religion and sexuality for parents to lead. With one child nearly finished high school and another about to start Grade 8, there have been times Doll felt educators didn’t properly notify her before these sensitive topics were discussed in the classroom.
Doll hopes she won’t be kept in the dark again about her children’s education, now that parental rights will officially be entrenched in the province’s human rights law this week. As of Sept. 1, parents will have strengthened authority to pull their children out of lessons on religion, human sexuality, and sexual orientation. “When it gets into areas of thorny issues of religious values, I’m the primary educator of my child. I don’t want the school to do something that’s contrary to my beliefs,” explained Doll, who practices the Roman Catholic faith, but elected to enrol her children in the public school system. “Hopefully, there will be more notification for parents to decide if they want their children to sit in on those particular lessons or not.”
While Doll and many other Alberta parents are welcoming this Canadian first, opponents of the controversial measure – which sparked fierce political debates and protests at the legislature last year – worry the new rules will create a chilling effect on teachers and water down classroom talk. “Discussion in the classroom is very unpredictable. Teachers, at some points, have to steer it one way or another,” noted Marilyn Sheptycki, president of the Alberta School Councils’ Association, which represents parents. “We don’t want to see teachers having to stifle that good conversation.”
Another concern for organizations representing school councils, teachers and school boards is the potential for educators to face human rights complaints. Parents will now be allowed to complain to the province’s quasi-judicial Human Rights Commission, if they feel they weren’t properly notified about a school lesson. Heather Welwood, president of the Alberta School Boards Association, hopes this won’t be the case. She’s urging parents to resolve disputes over notification with their children’s teachers and principals. So is Alberta Education, which crafted guidelines to shepherd strengthened parental rights into the school system.
Read the complete article here.