News

CALGARY, Alberta, Nov 26 (LSN) – A Calgary Board of Education meeting Tuesday erupted into fierce debate between school trustees and parents when trustees brought forward a legal opinion on parental rights by John Carleton, a lawyer with Calgary law firm MacKimmie Matthews. Matthews said “In our opinion, there is no general duty on a guidance counsellor to disclose personal information provided to them by a student.”  The board has its sights on revising school policy with regard to offering counselling to students based on the legal advice. Currently parents have the right to refuse their children permission to receive counsel from school guidance counsellors.  Board Trustee Peggy Anderson disagreed with the legal advice and consequent direction of the board saying the opinion amounted to a “usurping of parents’ rights.” Tom Crites, co-founder of Parents Rights in Education, a conservative Christian group that represents about 400 city families said “It isn’t the schools’ place to compromise parental values.”“If it comes to the point that a girl gets an abortion done after counselling, then begins to bleed and dies or has some serious problems,  even with this legal opinion I’ll guarantee that her parents will be suing the board.”