School Cancels Mother's Day; Opts to Celebrate 'Diversity' Instead
It's a tradition for elementary school students to spend time making Mother's Day cards in their classrooms before the holiday rolls around. But that won't be the case this year at one Canadian school.
Albert McMahon Elementary School in Canada cancelled its usual Mother's and Father's Day celebrations to celebrate diversity and to respect a "recent trauma" a student experienced.
"In an effort to celebrate diversity, inclusivity and also nurture our students who are part of nontraditional families, we have decided to encourage those celebrations to take place at home," the school said in a letter to parents. "Due to this, the children will not be making gifts at school to give on Mother's Day and Father's Day."
Some parents are dismayed by the school's decision.
"This will be the first year that we don't get gifts crafted with love from our kids, and since we only have one little one now it makes it all that much worse," explained Roy Glebe, a parent of child who attends the elementary school. "I don't understand why we, as Canadians, need to give up our traditions that have been passed through generations."
"I welcome all races and ethnicities, but forcing us to give up things that are important to us as Canadians is crap. And it doesn't even have anything to do with religion? You cant celebrate your Mom and Dad?" Glebe added.
However, the school says they did not cancel the celebrations for political reasons, but to respect a student who could be negatively affected by the celebrations.
"The reasoning wasn't some cabal or some political plan," Angus Wilson, superintendent of the school district School belongs, told KXTV. "Instead, there has been a recent trauma involving a student and its parents."
While he could not discuss the trauma in detail, Wilson said it was the teacher's ideas to stop the classroom celebrations this year.
"There is no plan to eliminate Mother's Day or Halloween or Victoria Day … and this was entirely the initiative of a few teachers at one school," he said. "It does not impact the actual curriculum."
