Sask. School Boards Association calls on province to pause new sex education and pronoun policies
The group wasn't consulted and said the policies should be reviewed
The Saskatchewan School Boards Association has asked the province to pause its new sex education and pronoun policies just before the fall term starts.
The move follows Education Minister Dustin Duncan's announcement on Tuesday giving parents the right to pull their kids out of sexual health education, barring third-parties from teaching the subject and requiring parental consent for students under the age of 16 to use different pronouns.
Jaimie Smith-Windsor, the association president, said the organization was not consulted and sent Duncan a letter on Thursday asking for the policies to be shelved pending a complete review from the Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth, a team of professionals that acts as an independent officer of the provincial government, and some additional consultation.
The policies are "being described as a bombshell by some of our boards because we weren't involved in the consultation around any of these policy shifts," said Smith-Windsor, whose group represents 27 public, separate and francophone school divisions throughout the province.
Consultation is critical to ensure policies are beneficial to students, parents and communities, she said.
The provincial children's advocate has previously said it is "deeply troubled" by the impact the policy will have and said it is reviewing them.
Smith-Windsor said she hopes the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission will also review the policy changes.
Some school boards are concerned about the safety of students, she said, adding the announcement "casts some mistrust and some questions around that."
Equally concerning to the school boards is the ability for parents to opt-out of curriculum-set sexual health education.
Smith-Windsor said she wasn't aware of the policies until after they were announced and she wants more information.
"We need to make sure that the policies we put in place are legally sound, that they fully respect and protect the rights of students and we want to make sure that's happening," Smith-Windsor said.
In an email to CBC on Friday, the Ministry of Education said the changes were made "following a review of sexual health materials and policies across all Saskatchewan school divisions."
It also said in situations where parental consent could lead to the physical, emotional or mental harm of a student, the student would be given support and that when the student is ready a plan to speak with their parents would be arranged.
Smith-Windsor said she didn't know what could happen to teachers if they didn't comply with regulations.
Annie Pullen, a social work professor at the Université de Montréal, said the new policy could damage the trusting relationship between trans students and their schools.
"A lot of trans and non-binary youth are already at risk of experiencing violence within their family," Pullen told Radio-Canada's Bryanna Frankel.
Pullen also said barring third-parties from teaching in the classroom is ill advised, as teachers aren't always able to expertly teach some of the content.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Bryanna Frankel