September 2015

Christian Schooling: An Outsource or a Partnership?Mark Kennedy, Regional Director
“Hello, Cornerstone Mont Serati School.”
Maybe I hadn’t heard correctly so I asked the lady to repeat.
“Cornerstone Mont Serati School,” she restated it a bit slower and louder for the benefit of the old codger on the other end of the line who was evidently half deaf.
‘How do I handle this one?’ I asked myself. I’d been trying to reach Stephanie Ling at her school on that fine July morning but seemed to have connected with some stranger who’d strayed into the office and decided to answer the phone.
After a few minutes I figured out how to proceed:
‘Tact Kennedy, try using tact,’ said a little voice in my head. So I adopted my kindliest, most grandfatherly tone:
“Now Dear, I’m not trying to be critical, but the school’s name is Cornerstone Prep Montessori, not Mont Serati.”
Not sure what reply I’d expected but what I got was tinkling, self-effacing laughter and, “Oh ya, that’s right, thanks! It’s a tongue twister isn’t it?”
I courteously refrained from saying, “Not really.”
Later that day Stephanie cleared up ‘The Mont Serati Mystery.’ It turned out that I’d been chatting with an answering service lady. Stephanie had ‘outsourced’ the school phones in July so office staff could have a break….Read more…
Why Don’t Young People Get the Argument Against Gay Marriage
Our friend and colleague Kerry Wilson told me something pretty alarming after the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage, something that we, the gleefully unrepentant non users of Facebook, mightn’t have suspected.
It turns out that after this pivotal decision, more than a few Christian school graduates celebrated, proudly posting the rainbow flag and adding comments like “Love Wins!”
I really don’t get it. How can they ignore the consistent message of scripture about homosexuality and twist the “God is love” verse so, in their minds at least, into ‘Love (romantic love) is God’?
Here’s an article from Breaking Points that may help our understanding:
A Prayer for Oscar
“You know,” said the enigmatic Dr. Cooper, “A few years after we’re dead, people will forget that you and I ever existed.”
He wasn’t whining or being morbid, just waxing late-night philosophical as we sat in our Haitian hotel room after a long day of training teachers.
“Our wives have probably forgotten us already,” I added in an equally detached and scholarly manner. (We’d been away from home for 4 full days.)
“I’ll bet they can hardly remember our names.” He opined, upping the philosophical ante.
“Just our first names of course,” I corrected, “they’ll remember our last names when they look at their drivers’ licenses.”
We lounged in our chairs and mused, a couple of those profoundly intellectual muses. I fell asleep.
Unlike Dr. Cooper and me, there are some people who are impossible to forget or ignore. Take Oscar Wilde for instance.
Oscar Wilde, now there was a witty fellow loaded with intellectual gifts, literary talents and glittering social skills. An award winning Oxford classical scholar, he wrote a plethora of pretentiously ornate poems, several cleverly amusing plays (The Importance of Being Ernest, Lady Windemere’s Fan), a delightfully funny ghost story (The Canterville Ghost), a confession-like gothic horror novel (The Picture of Dorian Gray) and two of the most moving Christian short stories in all of English literature. (The Happy Prince and The Selfish Giant). And yet he became…Read More…
Richard Dawkins on Christianity
Dawkins, an atheist academic who tries his best to denigrate Christianity at every opportunity, made this remarkable statement to the Times of London in April 2010: “There are no Christians, as far as I know, blowing up buildings. I am not aware of any Christian suicide bombers. I am not aware of any major Christian denominations that believe the penalty for apostasy is death. I have mixed feelings about the decline of Christianity, in so far as Christianity is a bulwark against something worse.”
Thanks a heap Richard, I think. So Christianity is now the lesser of two evils? It reminds me of Hilaire Belloc’s warning to naughty Edwardian children: “Always hold on tightly to nurse, for fear of finding something worse!”
Fall Conventions’ Preliminary Lineup: BRAMPTON, ONTARIO
Tim Barnett: Engaging the Minds of our Students
Jonathan Van Maren: Pornography
Matthew Turton, Special Education
Brett Ullman, Youth and Sexuality
Dr. Steve Sider, Principals’ Course Part
Dr. Jane MacIntyre: Seminars for Kindergarten teachers
Moncia Kay from Youth Unlimited: Student Leadership
Marianne Deeks: Understanding Adolescent Sexuality and
Pressures Every Girl Will Face
Lynn Campanella: Phlay Literacy—A Fusion of Play and Physical Literacy
Ryan Tindale: Using Google Earth, Skype in Your Classroom and Assessment with Technology
Melissa Eberlin: Inquiry Based Learning in the Kindergarten Classroom
Laura McCourt: Math Journaling in the Primary Grades and Reading and Writing in Kindergarten
Victoria Bissell: Cyberbulling
Diane Geerlinks of NILD: Special Education
Mary Lou Maclean of NILD: Special Education
Jeremy Kuikman: Problem Solving and Collaboration in the Math Classroom
MatejPerisa: Create Interactive Classrooms with Response Technology
AND MUCH MORE...
ACSI/CTC Scholarship Winner for 2015
Congratulations to Tabitha Allman from North Toronto Christian School in Ontario for winning the Canadian Test Centre’s $1000 scholarship. Tabitha is enrolled at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. We wish her the Lord’ blessing and direction in the years ahead. /

In this Newsletter…

  • Why Don’t Young People Get the Argument Against Gay Marriage?
  • Legal Questions and Answers: Renting School Facilities & Employee Files
  • Highly Recommended For Local Churches
  • Richard Dawkins on Christianity
  • ACSI/CTC Scholarship Winner for 2015
  • 2014/2015 CAT Standardized Testing Results for Schools in ACSI Eastern Canada
  • Legal/ Legislative News Sept 2015: Why do we bother reporting these things?
  • A Prayer for Oscar
  • Fall Conventions’ Preliminary Lineup
  • Moncton, NB: October 29-30, 2015
  • Brampton, ON: November 5-6, 2015
  • Regional Calendar
A VALUABLE WEBSITE:
“It is the besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law.” James Fennimore Cooper
Legal Questions and Answers: Renting School Facilities & Employee Records
Question: regarding rental of school property to groups from the broader public, how do Christian schools handle public groups with clashing worldviews? i.e., if a school were to have a request from a group whose theology clashes with their statement of faith (Jehovah's Witnesses, etc.), can they legally deny rental usage of space on theological grounds?
Your school board needs to make a written policy that states something like:…Read More…
Highly Recommended for Local Churches Ginny Kennedy
Kerry Wilson, of PK Wilson Educational Services has been doing an excellent job speaking to parent groups all summer about Ontario’s sex-education curriculum. The purpose of her presentation is to provide an accurate overview of the details of the curriculum, and clarifying some misconceptions. She identifies areas of the curriculum that reflect “the values of the state” and contradict biblical values. Kerry points out parts of the curriculum that present a “caution flag” and she gives public school parents questions they can ask the school and places they can look for help. Parents will leave the presentation better informed and equipped to discuss the curriculum’s Christian concerns intelligently with their children and their teachers. She explains the options parents have within and outside of the public school system.
I asked our church if Kerry could come to do her presentation this past June. She was so well received our pastors are inviting her back this month so that she can impact more parents. I would strongly recommend that you promote her presentation at your church! or 519.641.4325
Legal/ Legislative News Sept 2015: Why do we bother reporting these things?
Because the precedents set court cases in this column will likely affect the right of Christian schools to teach our shared faith based convictions now and our right to exist in the future!
Ontario
The Provincial Supreme Court ruled in favour of The Law Society of Upper Canada and against Trinity Western University’s Law School. That means that TWU’s law school grads will not be allowed to practice law in Ontario because of the school’s faith- based beliefs…Read More…
Alberta
ACSI Western Canada is supporting a member school’s court challenge of the provincial government’s mandated Gay/Straight Alliance Clubs for all provincial high schools. Within that imposition, if a school can’t provide a club leader, the province will appoint an outside person of the government’s choosing. If the ACSI school wins it may very well be a…Read More…
Quebec
In late August of this year the government of Quebec announced that it will be imposing a new sex ed curriculum on all schools in the province, including religious private schools – no exemptions over religious convictions. It contains…Read More…
2014/2015 CAT Standardized Testing Results for Schools in ACSI Eastern Canada
In June I received this year’s report on CAT testing for the27 participating ACSI member schools in Ontario and the Maritimes. Here are the results as compared with national norms of public and other private schools:
In Kindergarten ACSI students on average function half a grade higher than national norms in Reading and they are at national norms in Word Analysis and Math.
In Grade One, member school students on average function more than a full grade ahead of national norms in all 6 areas tested.
From Grade Two to Grade Nine ACSI students on average function at more than two grade levels above national norms in every area tested!
Several years ago there was a rumour around that Christian school students were academically behind their public school counterparts. It was false then as it is now, but as Mark Twain said, “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
He also said: “Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch…you may kick it about all day, like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.”
So the truth is that Christian schools, at least the ones in ACSI Eastern Canada, are doing an outstanding job when it comes to academics. You may want to pass this information on.
Fall Conventions’ Preliminary Lineup: MONCTON, NEW BRUNSWICK
AXIS: Apathy to Action, A millennial duo addressing current faith issues for students, teachers and faith leaders. Axis is committed to helping individuals grow into lifelong faith and relationship with Christ. Our mission is to see students stop “renting” their faith from their parents and start owning a deep personal faith for themselves.
Dr. Glen Schultz: Director of Kingdom Education Ministries
Ron Morrish is back! Author of With All Due Respect
Dr. Steve Sider: Principals’ courses and Learning Disabilities
Candy Lucas: Social Media—Community Builder and Google for Education
Kathleen Palmer: Numerous Art Workshops!
Ted Newell: Theology and the Social Sciences
AND MUCH MORE...
“Ten million ignorant assertions, even when magnified and accelerated in a hundred million tweets and “likes” still never add up to truth and wisdom, or what is right and good.” Os Guinness—Renaissance
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
Proverbs 9:10
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