Victoria Reid attended Legacy Christian Academy, formerly Christian Centre Academy, from 1996 to 2004, and recalls the learning process to be vastly different from anything else she’s experienced.
“It was all work at your own pace,” she said. “You sat in these cubicles, they lined a big classroom and all of the cubicles face the wall and you had dividers in between them so you didn’t see anyone in your class, and you sat there and worked on your workbooks.”
The workbooks were called PACE’s, or packet of accelerated Christian education, which Reid describes as about 30 pages split into multiple sections of not very challenging material with small tests at the end that students would mark themselves, followed by PACE tests which would be marked by the teacher.
Reid says the lack of curriculum at the school led her to a revelation about dinosaurs in her mid 20s.
“I was sitting watching TV with my husband one night and someone was like “Oh, well that’s not accurate, dinosaurs existed millions of years before humans”, and I looked at him just shocked, and I was like, “Did you know that” and he’s like, “Yes, like, everybody knows that,‘”she said.
“We were taught earth creationism, so the earth is 6,000 years old, the animals all went on Noah’s Ark, and dinosaurs died after because the climate changed, but maybe they aren’t dead because someone might have found one. And that was our science in elementary school and they’d already covered this by the time I was in a normal high school, and so I didn’t learn it.”
President of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation Samantha Becotte emphasized the importance of a curriculum, which is set out by the Ministry of Education in Saskatchewan, in helping students become well-rounded and well-educated.
“[It] just ensures that all of those students are being assessed by the same standard and that we know what skills they have when they are leaving publicly funded education,” she said.
Legacy Christian Academy’s student handbook says the curriculum provides for conceptualization, critical analysis, cognitive reasons and master learning, but Reid disagrees.
“There was no knowledge. There’s no cognitive reasoning, there was no critical thinking skills. But those kinds of buzzwords, that was a promise of excellent education, and that’s what brought a lot of people in. That was what brought my parents in,” she said.
“It’s not a healthy system, and the government shouldn’t be funding it.”
Certified Teachers
In an email sent last Thursday, the Ministry of Education said it asked the Saskatchewan SPTRB, or Professional Teachers Regulatory Board, to investigate complaints regarding professional teachers named in the lawsuit by former students of Legacy Christian Academy.
“We understand the SPTRB has taken action and that these teachers will not be in the schools for the 2022-23 school year. No one named in the lawsuit will be working in schools for the 2022-23 school year,” the email said.
SPTRB chief operating officer and registrar Trevor Smith says it’s investigation will not begin until a police investigation of the situation is completed, and has only been in contact with three teachers.
“The Professional Conduct Committee has entered into agreements with three registered teachers to cease all teaching and related activities,” he said.
“The initial agreement is for a period of 120 days which should allow us enough time to conduct an investigation and and have the Professional Conduct Committee decide next steps. Should 120 days not be enough time, we would be seeking a renewal of those agreements.”
CTV News reached out to the Ministry of Education regarding the process behind removing others named in the lawsuit from their positions, and is awaiting a response.
The three teachers are Louis Brunelle, principal of Legacy Christian Academy, Duff Friesen, and Dawn Beaudry.
Smith says the SPTRB doesn’t have jurisdiction over the other people named in the lawsuit.
“We are exercising the extent of our our authority,” he said.
“We do not have jurisdiction over individuals who do not hold a teaching certificate, individuals who hold a certificate but have not ever registered with us, or individuals who hold a certificate but have not registered within the past two years. The extent of our authority is two years past the date that the person last registered with us.”
He says it’s safe to assume the other staff named in the lawsuit were not certified to teach in Saskatchewan.
Becotte says all members of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation are certified.
“They have a lot of education behind them with a Bachelors of Education, which just ensures that they have the right skills when they’re entering the classroom,” she said.
“If a teacher doesn’t have the certification, it doesn’t mean that they can’t have those skills, it just means that it’s less likely that they may have the right skills or they might not have the correct professional standards when they’re entering the classroom.”
Administrators assigned
In a news release on Monday, the province announced three administrators had been contracted to oversee operations at Legacy Christian Academy and Grace Christian School in Saskatoon, and Regent Christian Academy in Prince Albert.
“The administrators' priorities will be to direct the operations of the schools to ensure student safety and well-being, and to provide a positive learning environment for students,” the release said.
The administrators will be in place for the next several months, or as required, and will provide monthly formal reports to the Ministry of Education.
In an email, the Ministry of Education said none of the people named in the statement of claim had been working in a school other than at Legacy Christian Academy, Grace Christian School and Regent Christian Academy.
“We are currently working with the newly appointed administrators in those schools to ensure all individuals named in the statement of claim will not be working in a school for the 2022-23 school year,” the statement said.
