Sackville parent hits the capital to talk importance of calling kids by the names they call themselves
Sackville parent Patricia Kelly Spurles is spending Friday on the front lawn of the New Brunswick legislature, waiting for her chance to meet and talk with Education minister Bill Hogan about his recently announced changes to New Brunswick’s Policy 713. Kelly Spurles says she’ll continue to show up while the legislature is in session, in hopes of being able to share her concerns about what Hogan’s policy changes could mean from trans kids and their families.
After releasing his changes in a news conference Thursday morning, Hogan immediately took criticism in the legislature, most notably from Liberal leader Susan Holt, Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton, and eight members of his own party, who sat out of the legislature, citing concerns over the process of revising Policy 713.
Hogan outlined three areas of change, with the most significant being in the requirements around addressing students. The original policy 713 required that school staff use a student’s preferred first name and pronouns “consistently in ways that the student has requested.” But Hogan’s revision limits this requirement to only students 16 and over.
Hogan told reporters that he felt the original policy was “fundamentally wrong” because it did not require parents to be notified of preferred name changes in kids under 16. Under the current policy, changes to how a child is addressed at school could be, “in essence hidden from parents unless the child gives permission to share that with them.… Continue