Oversight on independent schools in Saskatchewan is being strengthened.
That’s according to the government of Saskatchewan, which says the changes begin in fall 2023.
Independent schools in the province have been under the microscope since August 2022, when a class-action lawsuit alleging that Mile Two Church Inc., which operates Legacy Christian Academy (LCA), located in Saskatoon, and a list of 21 named defendants, physically and sexually abused students, with the province of Saskatchewan being added to the lawsuit later on.
None of those allegations have been proven in court.
The amendments to the Registered Independent School Regulations and the Education Funding Regulations will see mandatory administrative policies that the Ministry of Education says are similar to those for Saskatchewan school divisions.
For example, the policies regulate attendance, extracurricular activities, and parents’ complaints and grievances.
Other changes enhanced financial reporting requirements, and require all registered independent schools to have a defined separation of duties among the board, director and principal.
In the 2024-25 school year, all qualified independent schools and certified independent schools will need to be registered as separate, non-profit organizations from any parent organization.
“Our government is committed to ensuring that students in all of Saskatchewan’s schools feel safe, protected and respected,” said Education Minister Dustin Duncan.
“While we believe registered independent schools have a place in our education sector by giving parents the choice to educate their children in accordance with their conscientious beliefs, these additional regulations will ensure that the necessary government oversight is in place.”
The province said the new regulatory amendments will be available in the coming weeks.
Duncan went into further detail at the Saskatchewan legislature, saying they are ensuring there’s a distinct legal entity that is running the school separate from the parent organization.
- Life in the forest: How Stanley Park’s longest resident survived a changing landscape
- ‘They knew’: Victims of sexual abuse by Ontario youth leader sue Anglican Church
- Roll Up To Win? Tim Hortons says $55K boat win email was ‘human error’
- Carbon rebate labelling in bank deposits fuelling confusion, minister says
“As with the school legal entity, the principal should not be a member of the board of directors.”
He said in the event that a complaint needs to be escalated beyond the principal, that complaint will now go to a board that doesn’t include that principal.
Duncan said the separation between the school and the parent organization will help in the event the ministry asks for financials, noting before this change it would just be the parent organization’s financials, which he says would be hard to distinguish.
He said the Ministry also hadn’t clearly prescribed that independent schools needed administrative policies, and that they needed to be written down and available.
Back in August, Duncan noted there were gaps in independent school regulations, and administrators were assigned to three independent schools, with one of them later being closed.
Duncan noted there is one administrator left, the one assigned to LCA.
“The second administrator (was released), based on their recommendation — they felt like their work had been complete and that the school no longer needed a public trustee.”
He said with the new changes comes the opportunity to put a school through probation, rather than giving them the choice of compliance or shutting the school down, depending on the violation.
Duncan said in terms of some classrooms not having a registered teacher, they tried to strike a balance for schools that may not have as many kids as long as there was one registered teacher for every 40 students.
“From a regulatory perspective these schools are in compliance, even though they may have other people that aren’t teachers.”
Duncan added that these schools can no longer call these people teachers if they are not registered, and that what they are trained for must be clearly indicated on the school’s website.
He said they haven’t looked at making changes to the 40-to-1 student-teacher ratio yet, noting that could impact these schools’ ability to operate.
In February, criminal charges were laid in connection to the investigation into LCA. Saskatoon police charged a 46-year-old with sexual assault and exploitation of a minor. His first court appearance is expected to be Monday.
Calls for more scrutiny on independent schools have been ongoing since summer 2022, with the Saskatchewan NDP telling the provincial government to freeze funding for LCA.
Back in November, a biology textbook from LCA made the rounds, using dragons and the Lochness Monster as evidence that people and dinosaurs lived at the same time, with Duncan saying that it’s up to parents to decide where their kids get educated.
“We give them a choice, and if they don’t want that for their children they don’t have to be there. Nobody is forced to attend these schools,” Duncan said.
LCA isn’t the only independent school that has received some flak, with former students of Prairie Christian Academy, located just outside of Saskatoon, claiming the school didn’t provide quality education or enough mental health supports, and with one student saying he almost took his own life because he was told being gay was wrong.
— with files from Brooke Kruger, Connor O’Donovan, Kelly Skjerven, and Nathaniel Dove.
Comments