Alta. school boards work for secular compromise

A plan is in the works to provide non-religious education to children in Morinville, Alta.

"We really do feel like we are going to have something in place for Sept. 1 and something attractive and complete," said parent Donna Hunter.

A group of parents is fighting for a non-Catholic public school in the town.

Currently families in the town of 8,000 about 30 kilometres north of Edmonton must attend one of the community’s four Catholic schools.

Those schools are run by the Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division.

The board’s mandate of teaching Catholic values prohibits it from offering a non-religious education, so it will work with the neighbouring Sturgeon School Division to provide a secular education, administrators told parents at a meeting Monday night.

But not all parents are happy with the compromise.

"Their reasoning is they can't be what they're not," said Dave Redman. "Yet they expect our children to be what they're not every single day in the schools."

The Sturgeon and St. Albert boards will meet next week to discuss the plan further.

The board will also survey parents of the 1,700 students in Morinville to find out how many want a non-religious education.