ARPA Niagara’s second annual banquet will be held Saturday June 8th at Heritage Christian School in Jordan. Chefs Ed and Jennifer VanderVegte will prepare a delicious meal that will be catered to your table. Enjoy the sounds of the violin during the meal to maximize your dinner experience. You won’t want to miss the education related presentations following the dessert (click read more to see details on the talk).

Location: Heritage Christian School, 2850 Fourth Avenue, Jordan ON
Date: Saturday, June 8th

Cost: $20.00 at the door (opportunity to donate later in the evening)

RSVP: [email protected]

Doors open at 5:30pm dinner starts at 6:00pm

Description of Talks

The Independent School Journey in Ontario: Headwinds & Tailwinds
Ted Postma, principal of Calvin Christian School in Hamilton and school quality evaluator for the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools, will speak about the development of independent religious schools in Ontario, how the Ontario Education Act defines schools and the political/legal benefits and challenges imposed on independent schools. Ted is a member, along with wife Heidi, of the Grace Free Reformed Church of Brantford.

Reformed Education: Defend It, or Lose It
André Schutten, legal counsel for ARPA Canada, will speak about the value of Reformed education and reveal an imminent threat facing our schools in a legal battle heading for the Supreme Court of Canada. Loyola School is a private Roman Catholic school fighting for the right to teach religion to its students from a Christian perspective. Will our schools be next?

Steve Tourloukis Parental Rights Suit
Lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos, representing Hamilton-based parent Dr. Steve Tourloukis, will provide an update on the local father’s parental rights legal case against the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. Dr. Tourloukis, whose wife is a teacher in the Hamilton public school board, is pressing the board to acknowledge his parental right to receive advance notice of, and the right to withdraw his children, from lessons that may conflict with his faith-based views of marriage, family and human sexuality. Albertos is a contributor to a number of Cardus publications and has provided legal services to a number of Christian school associations and communities in the past.