Credit for Parental Rights Policy Belongs to the People
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Last spring, I raised concerns about the inability of school divisions and school administrations to address serious, sometimes violent incidents in schools, including allegations of sexual assault. Parents then told me how little involvement they were allowed in their own children’s school, that it was, in fac, discouraged.
Recently, on the cusp of the 2023-24 school year, then Education Minister Dustin Duncan announced new parental inclusion and consent policies for Saskatchewan schools, particularly addressing sexual health instruction. It requires Boards of Education to ‘pause’ involvement with any third-party organization, such as ARC Foundation and the SOGI 1 2 3 Program.* This followed weeks of pushback after a disturbing incident at Lumsden last June in which pornographic ‘alphabet cards’ were made available to grade nine students.
The new policy is an effort to prevent special interest groups from pushing certain sexual agendas to children without parental knowledge and/or consent. A recent survey determined at least 86 per cent of Saskatchewan people support this move.