Saskatoon school shut down following abuse allegations: Ministry of Education

SASKATOON -

The province has announced that Grace Christian School in Saskatoon has had it’s certification of registration cancelled.

In a statement, the Ministry of Education said on August 24th, the director of the school, John Olubobokun, refused to cooperate with the administrator appointed to take on the management and operations of the school.

“Therefore, the Minister of Education cancelled Grace Christian School’s Certificate of Registration in the public interest as the Director is a named defendant in the current litigation,” the statement reads.

Grace Christian School, Legacy Christian Academy and Regent Christian Academy in Prince Albert all had administrators appointed to oversee operations by the province, as each school employed people who were named in a lawsuit alleging abuse by former students.

“It was definitely the right thing to do,” said former student Caitlin Erickson. “It happened a lot later than it should have, but you know, it's it's a start.” “I was absolutely not surprised that John Olubobokun did not work with administrators because he is someone who has never thought the rules applied to him.”

Erickson says it symbolizes a small start, but there’s more to be done.

“There's two other schools that are still open that have been very unregulated at this point, so it's just the beginning in my opinion,” she said. “It sends a message to them that they need to toe the line with the administrators or they'll be next with their certifications pulled.”

“It's wonderful that he doesn't have certification, but what will prevent this man from managing to start another school somewhere else,” said former student Stefanie Hutchinson.

“The most concerning thing to me is that John Olubobokun managed to get a school started in Saskatchewan privately on his own, which really speaks to the gaps Caitlin had mentioned, about the regulations governing these independent schools.”

Lawsuit Update

Grant Scharfstein, who represents the former students in the $25-million lawsuit, says all but three of the 21 people named in the suit have been served notices, and certification of the class action lawsuit is still three or four months down the road.

“Two, I think we found and we know where they are. The one, Keith Johnson who was the founder of this school, is in Oklahoma, and we have a process server looking for him,” he said.

“Finding him has been a tad difficult. If we can't find him soon, we'll get an order from the court for substitutional service. Once he's served and everyone else is, we then apply to the court for a judge to be appointed as the certification judge. Once that judge is appointed, we then set a date for a hearing to certify the action.”

Saskatoon Teachers’ Association convention

Erickson and Scharfstein were invited to speak at the 2022 Saskatoon Teachers’ Association convention on Friday morning.

“We asked Caitlin to join us today for one reason, so that she knows she has the support of all of us, and that her brave and bold message that she's going to share with us today is something that we need to learn from,” said STA president John McGettigan. “Teaching and learning is a very complicated and complex process and it requires professional standards, and Saskatoon Teachers Association, Saskatoon public and Catholic schools, we hold ourselves to a very high professional standard and no school should be operating with teachers that aren't part of that profession.”

Minister of Education Dustin Duncan was invited to speak on the convention, but did not show up.

“As a parent and a taxpayer in Saskatchewan, I am absolutely disgusted that the Minister of Education was not here today,” said Erickson. “There is 4,000 teachers that were gathered here today that are in the public and Catholic system here in Saskatoon, and our Minister of Education in this province is MIA. It's not acceptable. These are the people on the front lines, and he needs to show some integrity for the portfolio that he holds right now.”