Manitoba PCs promise expanded parental rights in schools if re-elected
Proposed new rights include information about curriculum, advance notice about speakers
The Manitoba Progressive Conservatives say they want to expand parents' rights over what their children learn in school if re-elected this fall.
While some community members applaud the move, which they say would address concerns over materials they consider inappropriate, others worry it could lead to a chilling effect on teachers.
"The teachers and school staff do incredible work educating our kids, but parents want to know what's going on in the day-to-day lives of their children," PC Leader Heather Stefanson said at a campaign announcement in St. Vital Park on Thursday.
The Public Schools Act enshrines seven basic rights of parents. Those rights include the right to be part of a parent advisory council and to consult with teachers about academic achievement.
Stefanson says the list hasn't been updated since 1996.
"There wasn't the texting, there wasn't the cyberbullying," she said.
The PCs list four new rights they would like to add, following consultations with parents and teachers:
- The right to be informed about curriculum.
- The right to be involved in addressing bullying and other behavioural changes.
- The right to advance notice about any presentations by people outside the school system.
- The right to consent before any image of a child is made, shared or stored.
"We have heard loud and clear from parents that they worry about losing touch with what matters most for their children: what they're learning, how they're feeling and if they're struggling," Stefanson said.
Inappropriate content
Felicita Ovadje doesn't have children, but she worries about the content of some of the books children have access to in schools.
"There are a couple books that had sexual education and sexually inappropriate content," the former lawyer and beautician said.
"I know that the motive behind it might not be bad, but the problem is ... children are not fully developed to really process that information. So I feel like books should be scrutinized a whole lot more," she said.
Ovadje wants schools to work collaboratively with parents to help raise their children.
Stefanson was asked if the rights would include informing parents if a child expresses a different gender than what they were assigned at birth.
She answered yes, adding that would be part of the consultations into the changes.
'Dog whistle'
One former school teacher and parent says many of the rights the PCs are promising already exist.
School boards provide caregivers a way to influence their children's education, and Marc Kuly — a professor of education at the University of Winnipeg and a member of advocacy group People for Public Education — worries the party is responding to efforts to limit access to materials about LGBTQ people.
"My first response was confusion, my second response was, 'Oh no, I think this is trying to rally support for a suspicion about schools,'" said Kuly.
Earlier this year, a petition to remove books dealing with transgender people and other sex education materials sparked fierce opposition in the Brandon School Division.
Kuly sees parallels with the PC policy and changes introduced earlier this year in New Brunswick, preventing schools from using the chosen names and pronouns of children under the age of 16 without parental consent.
He also sees connections with laws introduced by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis limiting the ability of teachers to discuss issues of gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms.
"I do see connections to what's going on in New Brunswick and in the United States, and the connection is the political hay that can be made by convincing parents that there is something afoot in schools that could endanger their kids," he said.
"That's concerning, not because parents should just trust schools, but because parents should find out, not be led astray down a path of presuming that something nefarious is going on."
WATCH | PCs promise expanded parental rights:
NDP Leader Wab Kinew echoed those concerns.
"Heather Stefanson and the PCs are trying to divide Manitobans. In this case, they're very clearly blowing a dog whistle about LGBTQ folks," Kinew said in response to a question from a reporter at a campaign announcement on Thursday.
Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont questioned whether the changes the PCs are calling for will do anything to improve education outcomes for kids.
"The reality is that there are too many kids in Manitoba [who] can't read, write or do math, plenty of them are hungry, and there is no air conditioning in many schools across the province," Lamont said in an email statement.
The provincial election is set for Oct. 3.
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