Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools

Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools or Greater St. Albert Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 734 is a separate school board serving St. Albert, Morinville, and Legal, Alberta, Canada.

History

Quick facts

* Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools formed in 1995 after the amalgamation of three historic school jurisdictions. We are the 4th largest Catholic jurisdiction in Alberta.
* Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools was the first jurisdiction to offer a cyber school. St. Gabriel High School marks 14 years of success providing online learning opportunities for Alberta and overseas students.
* Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools was the first jurisdiction in Alberta to offer the highly acclaimed Learning Through the Arts program developed by the Royal Conservatory of Music.

2013 - 2014 School Year
* Superintendent: Mr. David Keohane
* Schools: 16 located in 3 municipalities (Morinville, Legal & St. Albert) with 1 outreach location (St. Albert)
* Students: 6000
* Teachers: 378 (371 in schools + 7 in district operations)
* Total Staff: 579 (552 in schools + 27 in district operations)
* Trustees: 7 (4 in St. Albert ward; 2 in Morinville ward; and 1 in Legal ward)
* Board Chair: Mrs. Joan Crockett
* Budget: $67.2 million

Board of trustees

* vacant – St. Albert Ward
* Joan Crockett – St. Albert Ward,
* Serena Shaw – St. Albert Ward
* Rosaleen McEvoy – St. Albert Ward, Vice Chair
* Cathy Proulx - Legal Ward
* Noreen Radford – Morinville Ward, Board Chair
* Rene Tremblay – Morinville Ward

Programs

* Kindergarten
* Pre-Kindergarten
* Faith Education
* French Immersion
* International Baccalaureate (IB)
* Learning Through the Arts
* Sports Academy

Schools

St. Albert:
* Albert Lacombe School
* Bertha Kennedy Catholic Community School
* Ecole Father Jan
* Ecole Marie Poburan
* J.J. Nearing Catholic Elementary School
* Neil M. Ross Catholic School
* Vital Grandin Catholic School
* Richard S. Fowler Junior High School
* Vincent J. Maloney Catholic Junior High School
* Ecole Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville
* St. Albert Catholic High School
* St. Gabriel High School
* Greater St. Albert Sports Academy

Legal:
* Legal School

Morinville:
* Ecole Notre Dame Elementary
* Georges H. Primeau Middle School
* Morinville Community High School

Alleged human rights violations

In October, 2009 it was reported that a man formerly employed by the district had filed a human rights complaint against the district. The man, Jan Buterman, claimed that in 2008 he had been removed from the district's substitute teaching list after he declared his intention to transition from a female to male. In a letter to Buterman dated October 14, 2008 the division's deputy superintendent, Steve Bayus stated "Since you made a personal choice to change your gender, which is contrary to Catholic teachings, we have had to remove you from the substitute teacher list." As of October 15, 2009, the Alberta Human Rights Commission had accepted Buterman's complaint.

2011 Morinville controversy

One anomaly of the school system in Alberta is that the Town of Morinville has only a public Catholic high school (part of the Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division), and no secular or Protestant high schools of any kind, when the surrounding Sturgeon County, is a part of the public Sturgeon School Division. This led, in 2011, for non-Catholic parents to start an advocacy campaign to secularize education in Morinville.

References

{{Reflist
* http://www.gsacrd.ab.ca
* http://education.alberta.ca/parents/educationsys/factsheets.aspx

External links

Greater St. Albert Roman Catholic Separate School district No. 734

School districts in Alberta
St. Albert, Alberta
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