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Speak softly and carry a big School Act.

That seems to be the motto of Education Minister David Eggen.

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Despite calls for him to dissolve the fractious Edmonton Catholic school board or to impose an inclusive transgender policy provincewide, Eggen is biding his time. He’s waiting for the next Edmonton Catholic board meeting Oct. 13 to see what the trustees will do.

“They need to show me they can enact policy that honours the spirit and the letter of the law and they need to do so with a functional model of governance,” Eggen said Friday.

And if they can’t?

“All options are still on the table. I have the School Act just over here. I will have a Plan B if something goes sideways.”

Yet Eggen has set the board a near-impossible task. This week, trustee Patricia Grell released an internal set of pastoral guidelines for dealing with transgender students, written by the Council of Catholic School Superintendents of Alberta in co-operation with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese. While most of the guidelines are quite humane and sensible, giving lots of discretion to principals, the document starts with a blunt preface.