Church-run school named in $25 million lawsuit ran advanced course without approval: emails

Legacy Christian Academy (LCA), which is operated by a church that faces a proposed class action lawsuit alleging students were subject to physical and sexual abuse, offered the equivalent of a post-secondary class without approval to do so, according to internal government emails obtained through a freedom of information request.

And, according to the documents, it offered the class during the pandemic when ministry officials did not visit as often as they are usually required.

The emails say LCA offered an unapproved Advanced Placement computer sciences course from September 2020 until April 2021.

Caitlin Erickson, a plaintiff in the proposed class action lawsuit, said the documents suggesting the school taught a course without approval “really brings into question whether the current government has the ability to regulate these schools properly.”

An April 2021 email from a Saskatchewan education ministry employee states, “Legacy Christian Academy appears with Advanced Placement course Computer Science 30 (AP)_8704…”

“Please have this course removed as this must be a mistake given it’s an AP course.”

Kevin Gabel, the education ministry’s programs branch executive director who oversees LCA and similar schools, responded by asking another employee to reach out to Legacy.

The name of the person who documents say taught the class is redacted.

Advanced Placement courses offer the equivalent of first-year post-secondary courses that high school students can take for university or college credit.

According to the AP website (which is included on a Saskatchewan government list of approved AP courses in the province), the organization must approve a teacher’s application to offer the course at a particular school. It says the authorization to use the “AP” designation is restricted to “the sections of the specific AP course taught at a particular school, by the teacher who completed the AP Course Audit form.”

Erickson and around 40 other former students allege staff at Mile Two Church, which operates LCA, abused them when they attended the church and school prior to 2005. At the time the school was called Christian Centre Academy and the church was called Christian Centre Church.

The plaintiffs are suing for $25 million dollars in damages.

The allegations have not been tested in court.

Scharfstein LLP, the law firm representing Erickson and the other plaintiffs, obtained the emails using a freedom of information request and then provided the documents to Global News.

Global had previously obtained the ministry’s inspection and supervision reports for LCA using freedom of information requests.

Since the plaintiffs filed the suit, the government removed those named from Legacy and other church-run schools, appointed administrators to oversee the schools where those staff had been working (one school did not comply and the government shut it down) and the provincial child and youth advocate launched an investigation in the alleged abuse.

LCA is a Qualified Independent School (QIS), meaning it receives half the average per-student government funding other schools receive but is able to provide faith-based education that the public, Catholic or French school boards don’t provide.

Government regulations require education ministry officials to visit all QIS three times every school year.

Speaking to Global News in an exclusive interview last November, Education Minister Dustin Duncan stated “there have been three unannounced inspections all along” since the government began funding the schools ahead of the 2012-13 school year.

But the inspection and supervision reports show officials only visited once during the 2020-21 school year, when the course was offered, on Oct. 27, 2020, after the school started teaching the AP course.

The records show a ministry official visited twice during the 2019-2020 school year.

The head of the Saskatchewan School Board Association, which represents all public, Catholic and separate schools in the province except the QIS, said schools need proper oversight.

“When there’s public dollars going into education, that comes with strong accountabilities for transparency,” Jaimie Smith-Windsor said, speaking to Global News on Wednesday.

The education ministry did suspend in-school learning during March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic but reopened schools for the 2020-21 school year.

Global News asked to speak with a representative from Mile Two and LCA.

Brien Johnson, who has been listed as pastor of Mile Two, said in an email they are not giving interviews or comments at this time due to the ongoing legal situation.

“We have been and will continue to cooperate fully with the legal process, the Ministry of Education and authorities,” he wrote.

He did not respond to an email asking what his current position was with the church.

Global News also requested interviews with education minister Duncan and Kevin Gabel, who oversees QIS.

In an emailed statement, a ministry communications consultant wrote “(t)he AP Computer Science course was locally developed by a Saskatchewan School Division and had previously been reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Education to ensure it aligned with Saskatchewan curriculum.”

The AP website states authorization of the AP designation “is restricted to the sections of the specific AP course taught at a particular school, by the teacher who completed the AP Course Audit form.”

The consultant, Heather McKerracher, wrote “all QIS are visited and monitored closely by the ministry with teachers being supervised a minimum of three times per school year.”

She also wrote that COVID-19 restrictions and protocols limiting school visitors affected the inspection process for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years.

McKerracher stated no persons named in the proposed lawsuit, or criminally charged with or convicted of any offence related to the operation the school or its predecessor, may be involved in any operations or administration of the school. She also stated those persons cannot be on school property during operating hours or while school events are taking place, including extra-curricular activities.

She said the government couldn’t comment further as the matter is before the courts.

The proposed class action is scheduled for its first appearance in July.

Court documents show Mile Two applied to file defence after the judge decides whether to certify the proposed class action lawsuit.