Saint John's School of Alberta
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{{Infobox Private School
| background = #f0f6fa (standard color)
| border = #ccd2d9 (standard color)
| name = Saint John's School of Alberta
| image = [[Image:St John's School of Alberta.jpg]]
| motto =
| established = 1967
| type = residential, boys
| religion = Anglican (conservative), unofficial
| rel_head_name =
| rel_head =
| head_name =
| head = Jason Coates
| city = near Edmonton
| state = Alberta
| country = Canada
| coordinates = 53°22'50.5"N ; 114°17'4.7"W
| campus = R.R. #5 <br>Stony Plain, Alberta <br> T7Z 1X5 <br><br>
PH (780) 429-4140 <br>FX (780) 848-2395
| enrollment = 60 boys
| faculty =
| class =
| ratio = 1:15-18
| year =
| patron = John
| SAT =
| ACT =
| athletics =
| colors = red, grey
| mascot =
| conference =
| homepage = http://www.sjsa.ab.ca/
| ceeb =
}}
'''Saint John's School of Alberta''' (SJSA) is a private school in [[Stony Plain, Alberta|Stony Plain]], [[Alberta]], [[Canada]], the last of three private [[boarding school]]s founded on [[Cultural conservatism|conservative]] [[Anglican]] ideas and the notion that children were not challenged by present-day society. [[Ted Byfield]] was instrumental in establishing the school. Byfield's attitudes toward children notoriously involve ideas of control, unfailing obedience, and "traditional methods" of discipline including [[corporal punishment]]. The school's historic use of "swat sticks" (0.5 metre long pieces of wood, often with carved handles)<ref>[http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/corpuncom/picpar/8907.jpg Picture of a Saint John's School of Alberta swat stick with cigarette for scale, accessed 22 Sept 2007, link from http://www.corpun.com/picpar.htm, paragraph entitled "St John's School paddle (with cigarette for scale)" part-way down the page is not hyperlinked]</ref> has been defended by Byfield as being among the positive and character-forming aspects of the schools<ref>[http://www.corpun.com/casc9610.htm 1996 Alberta Report article by Ted Byfield, accessed 22 Sept 2007]</ref>, c.f., [[Saint John's School of Alberta#Lawsuits|lawsuits]], below. The other (defunct) schools were [[Saint John's Cathedral Boys' School]] in Selkirk, Manitoba (near Winnipeg), and [[Saint John's School of Ontario]]<ref>[http://www.bedard.com/level1/stjohns/ Unofficial school webpage accessed 12 Aug 2007]</ref>.
The school is conservative in social and religious outlook, and controversial. Some policies have changed over the years, including no longer spanking students with the wooden paddles for homework errors. However underlying attitudes and ideology are not changed. Punishments include forcing students to run long distances or lift logs from one pile to another. The school continues to have a rigorous [[Wilderness therapy|outdoor education program]] with [[snowshoe]] training and races (now shortened from the original one-day 16 hour races of 50 miles/80 km), [[Canoeing|canoe trips]] and other outdoor excursions. The school has always wanted to push students to their physical and psychological limits; the wildnerness excursions emphasize endurance and challenge. The students are required to participate in three core programs: academics, outdoor, and work (chores). The school has no [[janitor]]s or [[physical plant]] support staff, assigning the students to clean and look after the property. The school has 60 students from grades 7 to 12, a reduced number from the past when enrollment was up to 130. In many ways, the school appears to resemble the [[Boot camp (correctional)|boot camp programs for adolescents]], and has been listed on government [[Topographic map|topographical maps]] as a [[correctional facility]]. [[Tuition]] fees are listed on the school's website as ranging from about $9,000 for day students to $23,000 for residential students. Virtually all of the students are residential.
It is run by a [[religious order]] called the [[Company of the Cross]]<ref>[http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/technology/schoolsonline/selectlist.asp?Selection=School&District=Edmonton&JurDesc=Private&JurID=9162 Alberta Education listing, accessed 08 Sept 2007]</ref>, which was a lay order of the [[Anglican Church of Canada]], but, the relationship to the church is presently unclear, changed over time from the specific church control and sponsorship described in the [[Company of the Cross|Company's|]] documentation<ref>
{{cite article
|title=St. John's/Company of the Cross Annual Report
|date=1971
|author=Company of the Cross
|quote=In legal fact the company is two companies, each operated under the auspices of an Anglican bishop, one in Manitoba under the bishop of Rupert’s Land, the other in Alberta under the bishop of Edmonton. Since the bishops renew the members in the company’s service annually, they could presumably dissolve the company by refusing to admit new members.... Each time the one of the company’s activities raises public question or controversy ... the bishops find themselves assailed with the same questions: Are these people part of the church, or are they not, and if they are what controls does the church have over them?}}
</ref>
to what may be now, informal, i.e., presently it is not acknowledged or listed on any official document of the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton<ref>[http://edmonton.anglican.org/ Anglican diocese of Edmonton webpage, accessed 07 Sept 2007]</ref> or Anglican Church. The school presently calls itself [[nondenominational]]<ref>St. John's School of Alberta Handbook 2007-2008, available through a link to http://www.sjsa.ab.ca/renweb.php on the school's website, accessed 07 Sept 2007.</ref>. Avoiding inclusion in lawsuits is the usual reason for a church to not have a formal relationship or oversight of a school. Twelve children and one teacher died at the [[Saint John's School of Ontario|Ontario school]] during a canoe trip on [[Lake Timiskaming]] in 1978, and one child died while on a snowshoe march at the [[Saint John's Cathedral Boys' School|Manitoba School]] in the 1970s. Lawsuits were not laid for those deaths. The ideology of pushing children to their limits appears borne out with the deaths on school excurisons.
== Criminal charges ==
A teacher from St. John's School of Alberta, Paul Nordahl, was charged with one count of assault causing bodily harm in 1990.<ref>''Edmonton Journal'', Thurs, Feb. 15, 1990 "Boy's school prof. charged in assault"</ref>
== Child welfare investigations ==
In January 1990, Alberta Family and Social Services conducted an [http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=St._John%27_School_of_Alberta%2C_child_welfare_investigation%2C_19_Jan_1990&oldid=631817 investigation that was obtained by a freedom of information request]. This is a summary of the [http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=St._John%27_School_of_Alberta%2C_child_welfare_investigation%2C_19_Jan_1990&oldid=631817 document] that is available in full form in [[Wikisource]].
Summary:
{{Bquote
| Complaint received from former student that discipline at St. John's school is
done with a three foot long board and often results in bruising. Only male
teachers are permitted to "swat" boys, and detailed records are kept. Child
Welfare Act defines acts which cause bruising as physical abuse. St John's
School is a private high school, southwest of Edmonton, with about 130 students
and 30 staff.
| x
| x
| 19 January 1990 report, number 90024-0173 Alberta Family and Social Services<ref>St. John' School of Alberta, child welfare investigation, 19 Jan 1990. (2008, May 2). In Wikisource, The Free Library. Retrieved 17:25, May 2, 2008, from http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=St._John%27_School_of_Alberta%2C_child_welfare_investigation%2C_19_Jan_1990&oldid=631817</ref>
}}
A boy complained to child welfare authorities that the school's discipline of him with a 3 foot long stick, measuring 1 by 4 inches had caused bruises. The investigators examined the child, and found bruising consistent with the measurements of the stick. The [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] (RCMP) investigated because causing bruises in such circumstances is considered infliction of bodily harm. The investigators noted that prior complaints were received before 1983. The investigation noted that 6 children had run away to avoid the physical punishment of being hit with the sticks, and this was known to the RCMP from previous reports. It was also noted that older children physically assaulted younger children during supervision of chores and other activities. The [http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=St._John%27_School_of_Alberta%2C_child_welfare_investigation%2C_19_Jan_1990&oldid=631817 Wikisource document] should be consulted for complete details. The document also contains an initial heavily editted response by the school, also obtained by freedom of information request (the indication of "SEC. 17" in the document indicates censored information with the freedom of information request).
== Lawsuits ==
The school was sued for $3.5 million in 2003 by Jeffrey Richard Birkin regarding "psychological and physical mistreatment" on a "new boy wilderness trip" in 1976. The claim listed direct physical abuse involving being hit by teachers causing physical injuries, and having been subjected to degrading and humiliating treatment <ref>[http://www.marshall-attorneys.com/cases.htm FG Vaughn Marshall websbite, accessed 14 Aug 2007]</ref>. The outcome of the lawsuit is not clear, possibly a negotiated and sealed settlement. Founder Ted Byfield admitted to levels of teacher conduct in the past that would be considered excessive and worthy of criminal charges if they occurred today <ref>[http://www.marshall-attorneys.com/Press/2003_02_08_CH_St_Johns.htm Calgary Herald newspaper story 08 Feb 2003]</ref>.
The school had been previously sued in 1996 by Matt Riddel who lost 9 toes on a 4-day, 50-kilometre snowshoe and dogsled trip during which temperatures dropped to -28 degrees C. <ref>[http://www.marshall-attorneys.com/Press/2003_02_08_CH_St_Johns.htm Calgary Herald newspaper article 08 Feb 2003]</ref>. A teacher at Saint John's Cathedral Boys' School was jailed for sexual abuse of students in the 1980s <ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2000/10/12/mb_assault101200.html CBC television report 12 Oct 2000 re conviction of former SJCBS teacher and assistant headmaster, Kenneth Mackinnon Mealey, accessed 14 Aug 2007]</ref>.
==''The Old Boys'', television documentary==
From ''The Old Boys'' a television documentary broadcast by CBC Manitoba on February 28, 1990 (produced by Stephen Riley; reporter was Robert Enright) interview subject was Patrick Treacy, who spent four years at the Manitoba school during the 1970s. Treacy was deemed by staff at the time to be one of the best students there.
:Treacy: "It was a place of anger for me, and I didn't realize that anger until much later, either. A great deal of anger"
:Enright: "Was that because of the threat of physical violence?"
:Treacy: "Yeah, I feel it was, yeah. And I just didn't want to go through that rather undignified bending over and being swatted for something. And it hurt! It hurt an awful lot. They weren't fooling around when they hit us, y'know? And it was really somewhat demeaning. They would order you in a really loud tone to 'Get the instrument of punishment.' So you'd be running around trying to find this stick. This is what they're going to hit me with! So it was kind of sadistic, you know?"
==Company of the Cross archives==
(source: Stephen Riley, archives, St. John's Cathedral, Winnipeg), p. 2:
From an undated document entitled "The student and the Master"
:"The Necessity of Discipline"
:We are, as Christians, supposed to know the world and be able to cope with it. One of the greatest temptations put forth by the world is to buy its fantasy picture of reality. This fantasy would have us believe that
:a) all people are basically good;
:b) that we don't have to work to eat;
:c) that getting the work finished is more important than how well it is done;
:d) that carelessness won't end in tragedy;
:e) that children know what is best for them.
:Discipline is necessary in every society to keep it functioning because human nature is not basically good."
(from the same document, p. 15, comes a warning to the staff that each member must be consistent
in applying the policy on discipline. It says there is no room for "Mr. Nice Guy."):
:"1. You know school policy, follow it.
:2. If it offends you aesthetically - leave and quit undermining everyone else.
:3. If you want to stay, change before you are asked to leave."
(from the same document, p. 17):
:"spanking is permissible in class or study but be aware of two things:
:1) If you fear a confrontation , don't try it.
:2) Don't humiliate a boy and make him cry in front of the group."
== Frank Wiens ==
From a story by James Quig in ''Weekend Magazine'', no. 5, 1968, p.6 quoting Frank Wiens, (headmaster and co-founder of St. John's Cathedral Boy's School, Selkirk).
:"It's the toughest school in North America, if by tough you mean the most demanding of its pupils. One third of those who start Grade 6 will finish Grade 12. We push them to death... grind them into the ground".
==School closure==
On July 14, 2008, the acting head master, Peter Jackson, posted a notice on the school's website that the school will be closed for the 2008-2009 year citing a lack of instructors and a lack of students. <ref>[http://www.sjsa.ab.ca/index.php St John's School of Alberta homepage as of 15 July 2008]</ref>
==External links==
*{{cite web |url=http://www.sjsa.ab.ca/ |title=St. John's School of Alberta website |accessdate=2008-04-29}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=11049 |publisher=National Film Board of Canada |title=The New Boys |accessdate=2008-04-29 |date=1974 |author=John N. Smith}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.anglicanjournal.com/issues/2000/126/jan/01/article/abuse-claims-investigated-at-boys-school |title= Abuse claims investigated at boys' school |publisher=Anglican Journal |author=Debra Fieguth |date=2000-01-01 |accessdate=2008-04-29}}
*{{cite web |url=https://zone.biblio.laurentian.ca/dspace/bitstream/10219/187/3/Alberta.pdf |title=untitled, reveiws several Alberta religious private schools |date=1997 |publisher=Laurentian University |author=Laurentian University}}
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:High schools in Alberta]]
[[Category:Middle schools in Alberta]]
[[Category:Private schools in Alberta]]
[[Category:Anglican schools in Canada]]