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Whenever parents and pundits get caught up in one of the many asinine decisions coming out of Canada’s public school boards or unions, we invariably forget to consider how someone will actually break the news to the students.

“Sorry, boys and girls: we’re not going to see dinosaur bones tomorrow because the province walked away from the bargaining table.”

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Or: “I’m sympathetic to the fact that you fell and hurt yourself, Jonny, but I can’t physically touch you for fear that it might be misinterpreted by observers.”

Or: “I know you were excited about that field trip to Phoenix, but … well, a couple of crazed terrorists shot a bunch of people in San Bernardino, Califor — Jonny, is that gum? Spit it out — in California. So we’re not going on our trip. Sorry.”

The latter discussion could very well be happening in classrooms across Alberta right now in light of the Calgary and Edmonton Catholic school boards’ decisions to cancel all international travel plans for the remainder of the school year. Edmonton Catholic Schools spokeswoman Lori Nagy explained the move by citing a statistic saying that there have been 355 mass shootings in 336 days in the United States, “which confirms that acts of violence can occur anywhere at any time.”