Powell River Board of Education voted at its November meeting last week to change a policy that allowed for bible distribution through schools.
The old policy, which dates back to 1984, prohibited the general distribution of religious materials in schools but made an exception for the Gideons to distribute its youth testaments after a parent signs a permission slip requesting the book. The Gideons is a Christian evangelical organization that promotes “a religious world view.”
At the November 20 board meeting, trustees voted to amend the policy to stop the distribution of bibles. The new policy states, “There shall be no regular or general distribution of religious material in school.”
Jay Yule, superintendent of schools for School District 47, added that the amended policy is a reflection of what has already been happening in schools for the last five years.
The district hasn’t distributed the permission slips because they haven’t had any contact with the Gideons.
Amending the policy was about addressing preferential treatment, he said. The board determined that the policy gave the Gideons “carte blanche,” added Yule. “We were being preferential to one group over another rather than having them all go through a process, so in terms of what material we wouldn’t allow that would be for a future debate.”
If anyone wanted to distribute materials that didn’t fit the curriculum, the request would come to the board for a discussion around what material it is and whether the board is willing, he said. He added that this is the way the board treated having Powell River students participate in the McCreary BC Adolescent Health Survey. After determining it was comfortable with the survey, the board had Brooks Secondary School administrators send permission slips home for parental consent.
School trustee Steve Formosa said the board was not banning books with the policy.
“Any book that would be available in a public library, including the Bible or the Koran or any established book of knowledge, is welcome as long as we’re not paying for the cost,” said Formosa, “and it’s not being forced on the kids.”
The controversy began in October when Ian Bushfield, executive director of the BC Humanists Association, started looking through policies in other school districts after Richard Ajabu, a parent in Chilliwack, made a complaint to Chilliwack school trustees that the distribution of Bibles amounted to religious proselytizing. Ajabu’s concern was about the permission slip for an Answer Book his daughter brought home that was produced by the Gideons. The humanists and Ajabu wrote letters to Education Minister Don McRae and the Chilliwack, Abbotsford and Powell River boards of education requesting that they bring their policies in line with the School Act that states schools must be conducted “on strictly secular and non-sectarian principles.”
Bushfield said he’s very pleased that the Powell River school district moved quickly to bring its policies in line with the act. “This was the smart move that reflects the diversity and pluralism that makes British Columbia great,” he said. “I only hope that other districts can follow SD47’s lead.”
