TheRecord: Catholic Board Gets Inquiries From Public Students

Article By:  Liz Monteiro

WATERLOO REGION — Some public high school students are weighing their options and considering going to Catholic schools so they can play extracurricular sports.

But not so fast, says John Shewchuk, spokesperson for the Waterloo Catholic District School.
Yes, public high school students can enrol at Catholic schools without being Catholic, but all students must fulfil religious requirements, Shewchuk said.

Students in Catholic high schools are required to take a religion course each year.

“Come in with your eyes wide open,” he said. “If you’re cool with that, come on in. Catholic schools are a unique experience.”

Shewchuk said the board office has received a “handful” of phone calls from parents and students inquiring about transferring to Catholic schools.

Many public high school teachers are showing their discontent with contracts imposed by the province and not organizing extracurricular activities. Catholic teachers’ contracts were negotiated last summer and there is no job action. Extracurricular activities — sports teams, clubs and music programs — are all up and running.
And at this time of the year, with the first semester is ending and new one begins on Feb. 1, transfers are common, Shewchuk said.

But transferring to other boards to play sports is not as easy as filling out paperwork. According to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ transfer policy, students switching to another board must wait a year before playing with a team in the new board. 

There are exceptions to the rules, such as moving residence, said Jim Woolley, board president of the federation of school athletic associations and principal at Forest Heights Collegiate Institute in Kitchener.

Woolley said the transfer policy was created in the mid-1980s to ensure all students at all schools have an equal playing field when it came to sports. 

Mark Schinkel, executive superintendent of human resources for the Waterloo Region District School Board, is reminding parents and students to take a “long-term view” and consider the public board’s track record of providing high-quality education before switching schools.

“We realize individuals are making choices in the middle of this messy situation,” he said.
Schinkel said the extracurriculars are voluntary and the union cannot tell its members not to participate in them. 

“We are supporting teachers who return to voluntary activities,” he said.

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