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“Legalization” of Education - Part 1: Christian Schools and Disconcerting Legal Developments By Ted Postma, Principal of Calvin Christian School in Hamilton, ON and member of the Free Reformed Church Ethics and Public Relations Committee. (First published in the FRC Messenger, Jan 2013) Introduction The Christian school landscape has seen an abundance of far reaching changes during the past decade. Some of the changes were welcomed and some remain quite undesirable. At one time, the call, “let schools be schools,” was a reaction to matters pertaining to a school’s pedagogy or philosophy of education. This same call has now become a reaction to a plethora of legislation and court decisions. We are living in an era which fosters the “legalization” of education. There is an intimidating body of law that deals with students, parents and teachers. Certain regulations are touching and stirring Christian school officials and parents. To ignore or cherry- pick various regulations is risky. Christian school personnel need to exercise a considerable measure of awareness and careful compliance in response to changes ushered in by applicable legislation and judicial decisions. Since I reside in the province of Ontario, my comments will mainly relate to the Ontario scene.[i]