sd57

Students & staff being put in harm’s way from continued SOGI debate: PGDTA President

Oct 5, 2023 | 11:02 AM

PRINCE GEORGE — Despite only being a month into the new school year, there continues to be lots of discussion around SOGI in schools and School District 57 is not immune from those discussions, but there are other issues popping up early on.

It has been a busy two weeks in regards to discussions surrounding education in School District 57. SOGI 123 (sexual orientation and gender identity) was the overarching theme of discussion at the first board meeting of the year in light of the protests and counter-protests that occurred just a week prior. The president of the local teachers union says that this is about human rights.

“We’re talking about human rights.That’s shouldn’t be debatable in the 21st century. It should just be accepted. We are talking about a civil rights argument. We’ve been having civil rights discussions in education for over a hundred years. It’s time that we really get our act together and we make human rights not negotiable in the school systems of British Columbia.” – Daryl Beauregard, President, Prince George District Teachers Association (PGDTA)

John Rustad, leader of the Conservative Party of BC, says that SOGI has created division and says parents are upset. Rustad brought this up in Question Period in the B.C. Legislature on Tuesday, October 3, calling SOGI 123 an “assault on parents rights and a distraction on student education.” Premier David Eby refused to answer Rustad’s question instead saying that his comments were “feeding the fire of division in our province”. The premier also rebuked Rustad for “seeking political advantage in picking on kids and families and teachers.”

Rustad told CKPG News:

“When you’ve got a policy that is driving people apart, that’s creating these divisions, it’s not healthy. It’s not healthy for our kids. Our kids should be going to school to learn how to think, not what to think.”

Beauregard says that the current debate surrounding SOGI is harmful for students and staff in schools.

“How safe do you feel going to school each day knowing there are people in leadership, in positions of power that are arguing that your rights don’t shouldn’t exist? That is harmful not only to students, but also to colleagues, to staff in the school district who are LGBTQ+.They are put in harm’s way when this is a debate, and really it shouldn’t be.” – Daryl Beauregard, President, Prince George District Teachers Association (PGDTA)

SOGI is not the only topic of discussion surrounding SD57 in recent days. Daryl Beauregard is also calling for the board chair Rachael Weber to resign after publishing a post online to her MLA candidacy Facebook page, stating that she both supports public and private education. Weber is the Conservative Party of BC candidate for the riding of Prince George-Mackenzie. He says that any citizen can support private education “provided they are not the chair of the board for public education.” Beauregard also called it a “pretty serious conflict of interest.”

Board policy does state that the Board shall “act as an advocate for public education and the school district in a non-partisan way.”

Image Credit: School District 57

We reached out to Board Chair Weber for comment, but did not hear back by air time.

Twitter: @AdamBerls

Email: Adam.Berls@pattisonmedia.com