INNISFAIL - The 11,700-student Chinook’s Edge School Division (CESD) intends to do all it can to ensure new provincial legislation regarding the use of gender-preferred names and pronouns in schools does not negatively impact the students involved, says superintendent Kurt Sacher.
“Our key focus, regardless of the legislation, is to create safe and caring school environments that really respect and understand our vulnerable student populations,” Sacher told the Albertan.
“We will particularly listen to our vulnerable student populations to understand what they go through. It’s incumbent upon us as educators and us as a community to really respect this particular group of students and understand them.”
The Smith government has introduced proposed amendments under the Education Act (Bill 27) that will require schools to notify parents and obtain their consent for a student 15 years old or younger who wishes to have school staff refer to them by a new gender-related preferred name or pronoun at school.
For students 16 and 17 years old, parents must be notified, but consent is not required.
Demetrios Nicolaides, minister of Education, says the changes will “promote student success and well-being by setting clear direction for our education partners to keep families informed while navigating complex conversations as well as public health and states of emergency.”
Asked if it will be individual teachers or administration who will be notifying parents about a student’s desire to use a new name or pronoun, superintendent Sacher said, “We haven’t determined that. We will need to see the actual information clarified and we will follow the legislation.”
If parental notification is expected to result in psychological or emotional harm to the student, or if a student requests assistance, school boards will be required to ensure the student receives assistance prior to notification of parents.
“We feel we already have those resources in place and we’ve always been doing that,” he said. “Our teachers are very caring and our administrators are very caring people and they’ve always done the right thing when it comes to vulnerable students.
“We have resources in all of our schools and access to a family school wellness worker who can help provide guidance in those kinds of situations.”
Asked if CESD teachers will be required to use the students new name or pronoun following parent consent, he said, “We’ve always respected a student’s request in that regard. If a student changes their name or pronoun and we’ve followed through with informing the parents, our teachers would respect that. I just don’t anticipate a teacher ever having a problem with that.”
If passed the legislation would also require parents to opt-in when it comes to classes focused primarily and explicitly on gender identify, sexual orientation and human sexuality.
Asked if CESD would continue to provide sex education classes if most parents declined to opt-in, Sacher said yes.
“If it’s a core part of a curriculum, we would move ahead with it regardless. We haven’t considered that, but we are optimistic that the overwhelming majority of parents would see the merit in that kind of programming,” he said.
“We would anticipate that most parents would support the programming. It’s based on a very solid rationale and, in our view, it is critically important instruction and think most parents will see it that way.”
Jason Schilling, president of the 46,000-member Alberta Teachers' Association, says Bill 27 “undermines trust between students, parents and teachers, making schools feel less safe and caring for all students. This proposed legislation targets vulnerable students while distracting from the pressing issues facing education, such as chronic underfunding and overcrowded schools.”
Naheed Nenshi, leader of the Alberta NDP, calls Bill 27 “anti-transgender legislation.”
The Innisfail-headquartered CESD includes K-12 schools across the region.
Kathleen Finnigan, superintendent of the 10,400-student Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools division, did not immediately return an Albertan request for comment.
