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A school division in west-central Saskatchewan is apologizing to farmers for a message posted on a school sign.
Outlook Elementary School received plenty of criticism from community members after the school sign was changed Tuesday afternoon to read: “Farming affects oceans. Chemicals hurt habitats and species. They also decr (sic) oxygen levels.”
Randy Emmerson, the Sun West School Division’s director of education, said a social studies class was summarizing a lesson on sustainability when the “error” was made.
“In the condensing of all of the learning that had occurred, a mistake was made in the translation and how it appeared in the condensed portion of the sign,” Emmerson said. “(It was) purely a mistake in how it was posted.”
Emmerson said the school had received plenty of phone calls complaining about the sign throughout Wednesday.
The school division issued an apology to the agriculture and Outlook community on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon with a photo of the sign’s new message celebrating farmers: “Agriculture is the most healthful most useful & noble employment of Man.”
“The message was unfair to the agricultural industry and we understand why many people, especially those whose livelihood comes from farming, found it offensive,” a Tweet from the school division read.
The message posted outside the school on May 26, 2021. (Sun West School Division/Twitter)
Regina-Qu’Appelle Member of Parliament Andrew Scheer reacted to the original sign on his Facebook page.
“This is unbelievable and infuriating. We all benefit from modern farming. Without it, food would be unaffordable for most people. Canadian agricultural practices are the best in the world and we should be celebrating it, not attacking it. Especially in Saskatchewan,” he said.
School administrators will be approving the wording of any messages posted on the school sign moving forward.
“It is one of those situations that you don’t expect to be dealing with,” Emmerson said.
“The accountability is extremely important. We do need to reinforce that,” Emmerson added before reaffirming the school division’s partnership with farmers.
“We do need to be sure we reflect the values of our community. We strongly value agriculture, we know it’s important (and) we know our farmers are the stewards of the land.”