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“It’s entirely unacceptable and we will pursue it,” Eggen said in an interview.

“The disturbing part is we are forwarding funds to a school board who is then, perhaps, executing an entirely inappropriate imposition on their workers.”

By late afternoon, Palliser’s chief superintendent had written to the Herald to say the society that runs the school had now inked a revised agreement — approved in private by the Lethbridge-based board last fall but never publicly released — that requires staff only to “maintain a Christian lifestyle in accordance with Biblical principles.”

“We didn’t realize that our society partner at Master’s was under the impression the (staff covenant) could be updated without new signatures,” Kevin Gietz said.

“We thought (it) wasn’t being signed due to other discussions about the master agreement.

While the new agreement was only inked Thursday, Gietz said Master’s had been “working with” the new staff covenant “for months.”

He did not reply to emailed questions about when staff at the school were informed of the change and when they had last been required to sign the pledge that forbid “common law or extra-marital relationships” as well as those with a person of the same sex.

A former teacher at Master’s, whom the Herald has agreed not to identify, said staff were required to sign the covenant when they were first hired and at the outset of each school year.

The new pledge does not define “Biblical principles,” but the old version of the covenant had a citation from First Corinthians to make things clear.