Sask. creates new regulations for independent schools in wake of abuse allegations
CBC
The Saskatchewan government is creating new regulations it says will strengthen oversight of independent schools in the province, after a class-action lawsuit launched last year alleged students suffered years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at one such school.
On Thursday, Education Minister Dustin Duncan announced the government had amended two pieces of legislation — The Registered Independent Schools Regulations and The Education Funding Regulations — that govern the operation of independent schools, which are any owned by a person or an organization other than a public authority or the government.
Last summer, government oversight of independent schools was drawn into the spotlight after more than 30 former students alleged they suffered abuse at Saskatoon's Legacy Christian Academy, which was previously called Christian Centre Academy.
The students filed a $25-million class-action lawsuit alleging abuse by staff and leadership at the independent school and adjacent church.
In February, a former coach at the school was charged with sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a minor.
Last August, Duncan appointed administrators to oversee three independent schools, including Legacy Christian Academy.
At the time, all three schools employed someone named in lawsuit filed by the former students.
Duncan said this week that following discussions with the appointed administrators, the government decided to pursue specific changes to implement "good governance" at all schools.
That includes ensuring all independent schools have an administrative policy handbook, he said.
The Ministry of Education said that would include an attendance policy, an extracurricular policy and a policy for parent complaints and grievances.
Another change will require that starting with the 2024-25 school year, independent schools "must be registered as a separate non-profit organization from any parent organization," such as a church, the Education Ministry said.
While the other regulatory changes take effect in the fall of 2023, the ministry wanted to give schools more time to make the changes to register as a non-profit separate from any parent organization, Duncan said.
He said there were no complaints about financial reporting under the parent-organization model, but that system wasn't clear.
"Anything that was requested by the ministry would essentially be the parent organization's financial reports," he said.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.