Assault charges laid against another staff member of Sask. private Christian school
Mother says 7-year-old student hit with relay baton hard enough to cause large 'goose egg'
A fifth staff member of a Saskatoon private Christian school has been charged with assaulting a student.
Unlike the other charges, this allegation is from this year. CBC News has also learned that Valour Academy — which was called Legacy Christian Academy at the time earlier this year — gave the accused a school "courage" award in the weeks following the alleged assault, and that she was working as a teacher but is not certified.
"I don't think that they're fit to be a school. I would like it shut down," said Laurissa Gerritse, the mother of the now-eight-year-old alleged victim. He was seven at the time of the alleged assault.
Gerritse said she can't believe the provincial government is allowing Valour Academy to remain open and giving it more than $700,000 in annual taxpayer subsidies amid the mounting criminal charges, a class action lawsuit, its controversial curriculum and other revelations. CBC News has interviewed more than two dozen parents and former students who say there was rampant, systemic abuse at the school that ranged from sexual and physical abuse to solitary confinement and exorcisms.
Valour Academy, which shares a building with Mile Two Church on Saskatoon's Pinehouse Drive, was known as Legacy Christian Academy until its name change this year. It was known as Christian Centre Academy before that.
Saskatoon police say a 44-year-old woman was charged this week with assault with a weapon from an incident with a student in May 2024. CBC News has learned that the woman was teaching physical education and other subjects, and is listed online as a "teacher" at the school. However, her name does not appear on the official Saskatchewan Professional Teachers Regulatory Board, and in an email this week to CBC News, the provincial government referred to her as an "educational assistant."
"I'm deeply disturbed by the experiences that are coming forward from Legacy Christian Academy. I think it's been renamed Valour, but students and staff should have safe learning and working environments that they're coming into," said Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation president Samantha Becotte.
"With all of the issues and concerns that have come from independent [private] schools, we as the Federation strongly believe that any independent schools shouldn't be receiving government funding. We believe that all public funds should be going to our public services."
A Ministry of Education official said in an email that the school remains on probation, but did not specify whether any other action will be taken. He noted that no one charged criminally or named in the lawsuit is allowed to be associated with the school.
"Accordingly, the educational assistant is no longer employed by the school," stated the email.
'I was in shock': mother
Gerritse agreed to meet with CBC News at her home this week after speaking with her son, husband and former students. Gerritse said they agreed it's important to speak out so the other students know they're not alone, and to show the government that things have not changed.
"I just don't want anyone else to get hurt," she said.
Gerritse said she remembers that "horrible" day back in May when she picked her son up at the end of the school day.
"He got in the car and he shut the door and he just broke and started bawling," she said.
"And I was like, 'Hey, what, what happened. Are you OK?' And he said, 'My head hurts so bad and I can't get it to stop hurting.'"
She asked the boy if he bumped his head on the playground structure. He said no, that it was his teacher who hit him "twice with the yellow baton in gym" because he wasn't listening.
"I was in shock," Gerritse said. "And I'm like, 'Are you sure? That's a very serious allegation to say that about your teacher.'"
The boy said yes, he was sure, and pointed to the spot on his head. When Gerritse touched the spot, the boy yelled and she could already feel a "very sizable goose egg."
"I was quite angry. That look in his eyes — I recognized that look. I knew he wasn't making it up. He was legitimately scared," she said.
She took him home and applied ice. She spoke with a nurse who listed the warning signs of concussion or other injuries.
"He said, 'I don't wanna go back there, Mommy.' And I said, 'You're never gonna have to step foot in that school again.' And I've kept that promise."
Gerritse said she called the school and officials minimized the incident, saying it was just a tap to get the boy's attention. She demanded the teacher be fired. She said officials told her to bring the boy to the school and the teacher would apologize verbally. Gerritse said that would retraumatize her son and the apology likely wouldn't be sincere. She refused and went to police.
In the weeks following the alleged assault, and after school officials were made aware of Gerritse's concerns, the teacher was given a special "courage" award, according to two people connected to the school, including a former student who attended the assembly where the award was presented.
"My jaw dropped when they did that," the student said.
During the interview this week, Gerritse sat with her two dogs. One is a therapy animal trained to detect changes in stress and heart rate. Gerritse said she developed a heart condition after suffering her own abuse as a student at the school, back when it was called Christian Centre Academy. She says a teacher sexually abused her beginning at age seven, and that she and others were repeatedly beaten with large wooden paddles.
She describes one memory of getting hit more than a dozen times and being unable to sit for days because of the bruising that ran from her lower back to the back of her knees. She said she'd avoided dealing with this trauma, but realized she needed to be a role model for her son after his alleged assault. She filed criminal complaints and joined the class action lawsuit with other former students this summer.
She said she feels guilt for sending her kids to the school, but she thought everything had changed because it had a new name and new principal.
"Yes, I grew up in Christian Centre. But I did truly believe it was something different, just in the same building. I didn't realize it was connected at all," she said.
Gerritse is hoping the accused will face consequences, but said the incident is a symptom of a wider problem. Gettitse and other students say it was wrong for the provincial government to allow the school to change its name, to continue funding the school with public money, and to allow it to operate at all. They wonder what it will take for the government to act.
"The name change is just the latest attempt in a long string of attempts by the school to cover up and ignore what was done and just pretend like nothing's wrong," former student Quentin Pelletier said in a recent interview.
The 44-year-old accused is scheduled to appear in Saskatoon provincial court on Sept. 25. She could not be reached and it's unclear whether she has retained legal counsel.
The class action lawsuit is scheduled to hear testimony for two days in January. According to the most recently available information, no defendant has filed a full statement of defense. One defendant has filed an affidavit denying all knowledge or involvement.
Three other former school officials have been charged with assault with a weapon. They have all pleaded not guilty and those cases are ongoing. Another former teacher pleaded guilty last year to sexually assaulting and exploiting a student.
No one from Valour academy returned messages left by CBC over the past week by phone and email.
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