The Taber Public School Board has a difficult decision ahead as officials will be debating whether or not to drop the Lord’s Prayer from the daily routine in their classrooms.
Students at Dr. Hamman School were reciting the prayer up to last week, but a complaint from a parent forced officials to stop.
The parent said her children were disciplined after it was discovered they didn’t know the words to the prayer they were expected to recite along with the class.
Wilco Tymensen, with the school board, says they will look at all their options before making a decision on whether or not to drop the prayer.
“As a board, it’s their mandate and requirement to represent their constituents and look at the greater good for the jurisdiction and they also have to look at the greater good of society and what’s best for kids.”
Alberta and Saskatchewan’s public schools are allowed to recite the Lord’s Prayer because of an exemption to the Constitution that was made when the provinces joined in 1905.
Other provinces in Canada say that reciting the Lord’s Prayer violates the rights of students.
“Even if the board directs that activity, it doesn’t mean that all individuals are forced to be engaged in the process. It simply means that act is allowed to constitutionally occur within the building,” Tymensen says.
A number of parents in the community say that it’s important to include the Lord’s Prayer in schools. “It’s very important that kids learn, from when they’re little, that there is someone greater than us and that we are submissive of him.”
Others are insistent that religion is a requirement in the family. “It keeps the family together.”
One homeschooling parent says she wouldn’t want to let go of the tradition of reciting the prayer.
The board plans to address the issue at their next monthly meeting, but it could be some time before a decision is made.
