Secrecy Clauses in Alberta School Division Policies, Updated 2024, October 10.xlsx

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1	IMPORTANT INFORMATION: As of Sept. 2019, provincial law no longer dictates that all school boards must have policies that force staff to keep secrets from parents. However, many public and Separate (Catholic) school divisions continue to keep secrecy policies in place. It is now elected school board trustees - not provincial government MLAs - who are choosing to keep these specific clauses.
2	Parents for Choice in Education has researched all public and Separate (Catholic) school division policies in Alberta, for what the previous law had required "The principal is responsible for ensuring that notification, if any, respecting a voluntary student organization or an activity... is limited to the fact of the establishment of the organization or the holding of the activity." That is any clear prohibition giving a parent an answer if they ask if their child is in a club.

3	Our Parental Rights section has more information. (LINK)
4	Note: Our team has worked hard to gather as much publicly available information as we could find. However, if you know of additional policy information or changes, or notice any errors, please email admin@parentchoice.ca
5	Secrecy wording still in policy?	School Division	Link to Policies	Link to specific PDF of Safe and Caring policy	Location of Notification policy in the document	Link to additional policy of interest	Additional notes (footnotes at bottom of chart at C72)
6	yes	Aspen View Public	Policy	Policy 33	sec. 6.6
7	yes	Battle River	Policy	Policy 20	2.c.v
8	yes	Black Gold	Policy	AP 168	1.6.1
9	yes	Buffalo Trail Public	Policy	302-11 AP	s 5
10	yes	Calgary School District	Policy	Regulation 6031	s. 14-15
11	no	Canadian Rockies	Policy	Policy 380			The previous language is there verbatim, but leaves out the notification if any portion.
12	yes	Chinook's Edge	Policy	PL 3: 06.1.0	Section 6
13	yes	Clearview	Policy	Extracted Policy	p. 2		Policies not accessible from website menus.
14	yes	Edmonton Public	Policy	HFA.AR	2.d
15	yes	Elk Island Public	Policy	AP 311	14.4
16	yes	Foothills	Board Policy	Policy 14	p.3		Only the Board Policy uses "notification if any"
17	yes	Fort McMurray Public	Policy	PDF	16.1(6)
18	No Policy	Fort Vermilion	Board website	Board Policies	Not found	contacted Fe, 15 2023	A notification only document was found in 2021 by search alogorithms
19	yes	Golden Hills	Policy	AP 350	page 2, #8
20	yes	Grande Prairie	Policy	Policy 20	9
21	yes	Grande Yellowhead Public	Policy	AP 310	2.1.6
22	yes	Grasslands	Policy	AP 301	8.5	Sharing of students' personal information
23	nothing clear	High Prairie	Policy	AP 209	Secrecy lause not there, BUT Language that allows for no notification by refering to other acts..		Clubs will be started as specified in Education Act section 35.1 also additional language about all students have access to washrooms that are congruent with their gender identity;
24	no?	Horizon	Policy	JHF	11.3.1.		Statement oon disclosure open to interpretation
25	no	Lethbridge	Policy	Policy 502.2	page 2 #2.5.5	Additional Policy	The additional policy includes language encouraging teachers to communicate with parents about uussues that affect the wellbeing of thir children
26	no	Livingstone Range	Policy	AP 308	Secrecy clause not there		Clubs will be started as specified in Education Act section 35.1 also additional language about all students have access to washrooms that are congruent with their gender identity;
27	no	Lloydminster Public	Policy	AP 312	page 2		For students 16 and over, parental consent is not required assent to a student's requests that their preferred name, gender identity and/ or gender expression be used
28	yes	Medicine Hat	Policy	Policy 614	1.4.6
29	yes	Northern Gateway	Policy	AP 175	2.5
30	no	Northern Lights	Policy	no policies
31	yes	Northland	Policy	Policy 19 B	page 3
32	no	Palliser	Policy	Policy 10
33	no	Parkland	Policy	AP 128	#23	vague language: School staff, students and parents are expected to respect all privacy rights and where there are competing privacy rights, balance the same as reasonably permitted.
34	yes	Peace River	Policy	Policy 19	5.5
35	yes	Peace Wapiti	Policy	Policy IHF	sec 5		p. 4 Participation in a GSA is not included in the student records and is protected under privacy law
36	no?	Pembina Hills	Policy	Policy 60-15	Policy 60-23		no mention of notification, but states the club will "maintain the right of confidentiality"
37	no	Prairie Land	Policy	AP 310
38	no	Prairie Rose	Policy is gone		document>Policy Manual>Administrative guidelines>Administrative>A225 Welcoming and Caring		Starting clubs as per Section 35.1 of the Education Act and FOIP referred to, but nothing on notification explicitly.
39	yes	Red Deer Public	Policy	Board Policy 19	18	main page>Division&board>Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity>page 3
40	yes	Rocky View	Policy	AP 205, 1.8			1.8 on page 2 claims notification of parents regarding gay-straight alliance clubs is NOT required - at all
41	no	St. Albert Public	Policy	Policy 160-BR			" all sexual and gender minority students, staff, and families have the right to confidentiality and privacy."
42	yes	St. Paul Education	Policy	AP 160
43	yes	Sturgeon	Procedures	AP 712	3.15		ensure all staff recognize the confidentiality of the sexual orientation and gender identity of all students and protect them from unwanted disclosure of such information.
44	yes	Westwind	Policy	Ap 192	6.4
45	yes	Wetaskiwin	Policy	AP 177	5.7.6	administrative procedures>AP 177
46	no	Wild Rose	Policy	Policy 20, #7	page 3 section 7		Notification is only to take place in "some situations could occur that would justify disclosure to parents or others." The situations are listed in the document.
47	yes	Wolf Creek	Policy	AP 176	1.8.7
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50		SEPARATE (CATHOLIC) DIVISIONS
51	no	Calgary Roman Catholic	Policy	AP 350			Note #1
52	no	Christ the Redeemer	Policy	STU04
53	yes	East Central Alberta Catholic	Policy	Admin 322	page 4
54	yes	Edmonton Catholic	Policy	AP160	page 5, 3.3.2
55	no	Elk Island Catholic	Policy	AP160	page 6
56	no	Evergreen Catholic	Policy	Admin167	page 3		States: Groups are not used for protest against or advocacy for anything that is not in accordance with the Catholic faith foundation of the school.
57	no	Fort McMurray Roman Catholic	Policy	AP160	page 2		The Division will fulfil all legal obligations under Sections 35.1 and 33.1(d) of the Education Act.
58	no	Grande Prairie Roman Catholic	Policy	AP 337			Note #1 see C27 and the policy states that comply with all provisions under the Education Act respecting support for student organizations.
59	no	Greater St. Albert Roman Catholic	Policy	Admin 359	page 8		notification respecting a voluntary student organization is limited to the fact of the establishment of the organization
60	yes	Holy Family Catholic	Policy	AP 160	page 8
61	yes	Holy Spirit Roman Catholic	Policy	Admin 134	page 3
62	yes	Lakeland Roman Catholic	Policy	Admin324	page 4
63	no	Living Waters Catholic	Policy	Procedures Manual
64	no	Lloydminster Roman Catholic	Policy	AP309
65	yes	Medicine Hat Roman Catholic	Policy	Admin 160	page 4	Additional Policy,	Note #1 and Note #2 (see C72)
66	no	Red Deer Catholic	Policy	Admin 103		"Notification Only" gone	Note #1 and Note #2 (see C72)
67	yes	St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic	Policy	Amin 160	page 6	Additional Policy,	Note #1 and Note #2 (see C72)
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72	35	Still have the policy	Note #1	CCSSA's Life Framework contains the following concerning notification: If a student discloses information to a staff member, regarding her or his sexual orientation or gender identity, it is important to respect the student’s right to confidentiality subject to the necessity to protect the safety of the student and others.
73	24	No longer clearly have the secrecy policy
74	41%	Have Repealed the Policy
75			Note #2	The Caveat that states that the right to maintain the denominational character of Catholic schools will govern
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