Abbotsford parents can no longer opt kids out of class content for personal beliefs

Abbotsford parents will no longer be able to excuse their children from approved learning materials based on personal values, after a new policy was unanimously approved by the school board.

The policy change comes after school board elections last fall, which were widely seen as a referendum on SOGI (sexual orientation, gender identity) policies. Numerous candidates ran in school districts throughout the Lower Mainland against SOGI, many calling it an issue of parental rights regarding the materials children are exposed to in school.

Abbotsford School District Superintendent Kevin Godden brought the new learning resources policy to school board Tuesday night, emphasizing changes to the process for parents to formally challenge the use of learning resources in their children’s class.

“I think it just needed some more rigor,” Godden said. “I just think it was a little muted in the policy. So it just needed to come forward, and part of it was the ministry really changing their policy, really delegating the entire [learning resource] responsibility to school districts, which forces us to the position of now making sure our policy is really robust.” Continue reading here.