School districts doing good things.

[October 31 2023: I've tried to edit this post so it's written a little more clearly.]

I saw two articles yesterday that described ways that some local BC school districts doing good things in response to political and religious conflicts. The first incident took place on Vancouver Island at a religious summer camp where I used to work; the second took place in Surrey, where I currently work. I have a couple personal connections to both cases.

​On Vancouver Island,some school districts have severed ties with Camp Qwanoes due to the religious organization's stance on homosexuality. In my opinion, this severance is justified on the school districts' parts; school districts should not associate with organizations with such inequitous policies.

I attended Camp Qwanoes as a camper in the 1990s and worked as staff there for the summers of 1996-2001. It was during my time working there, perhaps the summer of 1997,  that the camp instituted the code of ethics form that all staff had to sign. The code of ethics, by some other name, was a ream of statements you had to agree with to work at the camp. I remember being uncomfortable signing the form, simply because its litany of rules seemed to be over-reaching. The form set rules about the music staff could listen to, their beliefs about homosexuality, their involvement in a church outside of camp, and numerous other rules that seemed a little over-the-top. However, despite reservations I found it easy to sign the form for the first few years where I worked there. The camp was fun to work at and I was pretty straight-edge, so it was easy to sign the form even if it seemed excessive. Even if I didn't like having my behaviour curtailed in this way, it wasn't going to change my life very much to follow their rules for a few months.

Still, by the time 2002 rolled around, when I stopped working there, I felt good never having to sign that code of ethics form again. By that point, my faith had grown pretty liberal: I may have been uncomfortable with homosexuality, but I knew that it wasn't any of my business to condemn it; I may not have been comfortable with abortion, but I knew that the arguments for its legalization far outweighed the other side's arguments; I was deeply troubled by trying to justify complex and arbitrary theological stances on the atonement, salvation by grace, Biblical inerrancy, and the Trinity. By that point in my life, I couldn't sign the form with a clear conscience. So I stopped working at the camp and felt better for it.

Today, in 2023, I think the camp's code of ethics essentially makes teenagers (most of their employees are teenagers) agree to hatred, and I'm appalled by that. So I'm glad that some public districts are severing ties with the camp. School districts shouldn't give funds to organizations, like Qwanoes, that promote hatred, no matter what the camp director says is within their "rights." 

Closer to home, the Surrey School District cancelled a rental of district space to a "non-binding" Khalistan voting event. The district's decision is something I'm also in support of. I currently work for the Surrey School District and I don't want my public occupation to be associated with political-religious issues like Khalistan. Some religious and cultural activities are fine for a public school district to acknowledge and celebrate, but I think Khalistan is a step over a line.

Specifically, the district's focus is on a poster: "the cancellation was due to a promotional poster that showed an AK-47 assault rifle being stabbed by a pen below an image of the school in Newton." As obvious as the imagery is (and I've seen the poster a few times around town), it's unnecessarily violent for direct association with a public school district.

The district has said, "As a school district, our primary mission is to provide quality education and support to our students and ensure a safe environment for our school communities. Our agreements, policies and guidelines, including those for rentals, support our district in creating a safe environment for our community. Anyone renting our facilities must adhere to this." 

I think this is an important stand for the district to take. The posters and the event are clearly political and religious in nature and the district should have nothing to do with events that might cause a religious or political ruckus. There's no need for that level of tension in public school districts. There are plenty of private locations for an event like this one; the event (in addition to its inexplicable repeat a few months afterwards) was later held at a Sikh temple, a decidedly more appropriate venue. 

So I'm a little proud right now to be working as a public educator in British Columbia. The system isn't perfect, not at all, but at least some districts can take a stand for neutrality and equality. Good stuff.

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UPDATE SEPTEMBER 15 2023: Monocle Radio's The Foreign Desk, one of my favorite news shows to listen to, recently posted a great short "explainer" that mentions the [original] referendum I mentioned in this post. I think it's crazy to think that sites I drive past almost every day are the centre of international news.