Couple of weeks ago, we shared with you the story of a single mother, Una, protesting her ban, demanding an apology, and wants her 11 years old son back in class in an Edmonton Catholic School called, Christ the King (CTK) Elementary and Junior High. Good news, the Edmonton Catholic School Board made the right decision and found Emmell another school with no dress code, and he resumed school on Monday this week. Mum and son are happy so far, but the story is far from over.
After over a month out of school for an 11 years old boy, there are lots of lessons we can learn from this story dealing with CTK and the Catholic School Board, and now Alberta Education Ministry.
This situation has exposed some huge lapses in the communications of CKC and the Catholic School Board. It is evident that CTK and the Edmonton Catholic School Board are in dire need of communications help to deal with multicultural communities in these kinds of situations. From our review of all the communications coming from CTK and Catholic School Board; emails exchanges, audio, and statements released, we can tell that the usual calm, soft, rosy feel of messages released from an organization in such a situation is absent. Either they have no strategy to deal with a multicultural situations and resolve issues when they come up, or just plain disrespectful, arrogant, and don’t really care.
We send our children to school to build them academically so as to survive in a changing world when they become adults. Social, and moral skills are also learnt in the process. For a faith based school such as Catholic, they may learn some religion or doctrine. Switzer, the principal of CTK failed to lead by example in what her school teaches as she could not engage a parent in a conversation on a sensitive topic without inviting the police. She did not end there, she went on to slap a ban on Emmell’s mother, Una, as such, she could not drop and pick Emmell from school. Other parents have come forward with similar complaints. The Catholic School Board took over a month to find Emmell a new school. The Board like the principal of CTK, focused on painting Una as angry, and as a liar rather than resolving a problem that they caused and escalated. From the email exchanges that we saw, the Board even refused to meet with community leaders.
On November 5, 2019, CTK organized a prayer session for parents of the school to move forward, once again, they used their now trademark Catholic Board styled communication line, “…there are always two sides to every story…” CTK and the school Board have been very focused on casting Una as angry, and as a liar without any evidence, rather than focusing on the welfare of the 11 year old kept in their care. This took them over a month, under pressure from the community and the media, to find him a new school. For sure all the Catholic Schools in Edmonton are not like CTK, but when something happens and you go high up in the Catholic School Board, you now know what to expect.
Lets go higher up to Alberta Education. This is the statement that Diversity Magazine got from Minister LaGrange’s spokesperson, “People feeling discriminated against based on their race is completely unacceptable. Minister LaGrange expects a full report from Edmonton Catholic Schools on this incident,” . Another statement reads, “Minister LaGrange has received the report and is reviewing it. She will be meeting with the family to discuss the situation further,” Colin Aitchison Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Education. We contacted Colin today to asked if they got the report, and if they will launch an investigation to get to the bottom of what happened, to ensure that another black family does not suffer the same fate again. We are waiting for their response and will update you. Una and some of the hardworking community leaders will meet with Minister LaGrange on Tuesday and we will update you on that meeting.
A statement released by the Catholic School Board says that they are not happy with the messages of community members on this issue and also unhappy with the rallies that have been going on every Tuesday and Thursday to raise awareness on the issue and empower other parents to share their own stories from experiences with CTK. This implies that messages on social media and rallies are effective in piling pressure on an organization and there is no shortage of people with their own race grievances to champion such movements.
The Board and CTK have not offered the apology and removal of the ban and review of their dress code that Una and the leaders have requested. We may ignore the dress code part, but will however add that, they need to hire or contract a Multicultural Liaison to deal with such issues in the future and train all senior management on dealing with multicultural communities, especially on dealing with sensitive issues. The communications coming out of CTK and the School Board from an organization standpoint, in a racial disaster is at best a child’s play, and at worst too vindictive to calm down the situation and solve the problem that they created and escalated. Organizations don’t speak with that much vengeance like the Board and CTK do. Well, for a Catholic organization that preaches the gospel of peace and forgiveness, we expect way better.
While focus on finding a solution to this problem, Una and the community leaders have to keep an eye on Emmell such that he can regain the lost time out of school. Organizing a rally is not always the first choice on anyone’s mind, but when the other party refuses to sit and dialogue, what else can you do? The community group have a great strategy to keep the pressure when the media coverage dies down but needs one too for the young Emmell in his new school.
