Island mom asks why some students are excluded from school's Remembrance Day ceremony
A P.E.I. mom says she's upset about the way her daughter's school marks Remembrance day, with a ceremony that not all students are invited to attend.
Westisle Composite High School holds a service every year and invites students from grades 11 and 12 to attend, along with members of the community.
Grade 10 students are not invited to attend.
Vicki Bridges said she only discovered this was the case a few days before the school held its annual ceremony on Thursday.
When she found out, she said she emailed the school's principal right away. While her daughter, who plays in the school band, was able to attend, Bridges said no student should be excluded from the ceremony.
"All students should be able to respect the veterans and go to the Remembrance Day service at the school," Bridges said.
'A lot of us have relatives that have died in the war and we should be able to honour them."
Theatre not big enough for everyone
The school's principal Heidi Morgan said the school's theatre can't accommodate the 530 people that make up the student population.
"If we're only able to accommodate 300 to 350 and we take into account the community members that come to the ceremony and they are invited to the ceremony by us, we aren't able to accommodate everyone," Morgan told CBC.
She said even if the school didn't invite community members, there still wouldn't be enough room for every student to attend.
Bridges argued that the service could be moved to the gymnasium, which is large enough to hold everyone, but Morgan said it wasn't an appropriate venue for a Remembrance Day event given the need for a stage and projector.
"The gym would not be fantastic for both of those reasons but also due to the fact that the members of community that come in, we wouldn't want them to be sitting in hard, uncomfortable chairs for an hour," she said.
'A disrespect to veterans'
As for how grade 10 students at Westisle commemorate Remembrance day, Morgan said it's up to those teachers to decide, but that she does recognize why some parents are upset. Morgan said the school has heard similar concerns in past years.
Bridges is hopeful the school considers changing its policy so that everyone can attend the ceremony, including her other daughter, who will be in grade 10 next year.
"I think with Remembrance Day, because a lot of the veterans have passed away, it's a way of honouring the veterans," she said. "I myself have relatives that died in the war and I have raised my kids to have respect for veterans and this in a way is a disrespect to veterans."
More P.E.I. news
