Amid growing outrage over reports of incidents from former students at the once named Saskatoon Christian Centre Academy, the Government of Saskatchewan has announced amendments have been made to The Registered Independent Schools Regulations to increase accountability of Qualified Independent Schools.

The Province says the changes also give the government the ability to appoint a supervisor to oversee the education of students if they feel it is necessary.

With these new changes, the Minister of Education will be appointing an administrator into three independent schools for the 2022-23 school year that currently have someone employed who was named in the recent lawsuit by former students. The three schools are Legacy Christian Academy and Grace Christian School, both in Saskatoon, and Regent Academy in Prince Albert who will also be subjected to a unscheduled visit once per month.

In addition, the province will also be increasing the number of unscheduled supervised visits to all independent schools for the 2022-23 school year.

The amendments come into effect today and give the Minister of Education the ability to appoint an administrator of a school; put schools on probation; and, require all Qualified Independent Schools to notify the ministry within 24 hours if there are allegations of criminal activity or a criminal charge of a staff member.

The ministry also has the ability to suspend or cancel an independent school’s certification if necessary. Upon cancellation the school would legally no longer be able to operate.