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Grell was part of a board committee that drafted a policy on transgender students that stated they should be able to use the physical facilities with which the identify, such as washrooms, change rooms, and locker rooms. The policy was on the table for discussion at the September meeting, but never voted on.

Grell insisted she is in the awkward position of trying to serve “two masters,” the archbishop and taxpayers, through the minister of education.

“I’ve had to search my conscience and decide which master I’m going to follow, and it’s the kids. I’ve chosen the kids and it puts me out of communion with the local ecclesial authority. But the ecclesial authority doesn’t have a high suicide rate, these kids do,” Grell said.

“There’s nothing against church teaching to say we shouldn’t welcome these kids. Church teachings does say we’re supposed to care for our most vulnerable … We have to respect (people’s) conscience. They’re making the decision that’s best for them ….No one can interfere spiritually with another person … be it teachers who are using contraception and going to communion, we have to respect that’s their decision.”

The debate over inclusion policies for transgender students in the Edmonton Catholic School District — and other districts in the province — has led some to call for a provincewide approach to the issue.

“It ensures that no matter where a kid goes to school in the province, they’ll get the same level of support. It’s not going to be questioned if I cross the street from the public school to the Catholic school,” Kristopher Wells, a professor in the faculty of education and director with the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta, said last week.

Azabjek@edmontonjournal.com

Twitter.com/a_zabjek