A Prince George father is suing School District 57 over a decision to allow his children to be transferred to a school where their mother works without his permission.
The two are in the midst of a "high-conflict divorce," according to a notice of civil claim he filed last week in B.C. Supreme Court in Prince George.
The father is seeking a court order forbidding her from working in the same school the children are attending.
He is also seeking damages from the school district for allegedly breaching its duty of care to the children.
The father, who will not be named to protect the children's identities, maintains the move was made despite the opinion of a contractor hired by the Ministry of Children and Family Development to support the children.
He said the children were transferred in early November, two months into the school year, without notice either to him or the contractor and asserted his ex-wife should have first secured the court's permission.
He then approached interim assistant superintendent John McLay about the matter and was told the transfer met the school district policy, in particular that children who permanently live within a particular school's catchment area should attend that school.
But the children currently alternate between their parents' respective homes on a three-week rotation, according to the notice, and the father told McLay he intended to transfer the children back to their old school under the same policy.
In response, McLay wrote the father to say the school district followed its policies and protocols, legally speaking.
"Unfortunately, we did not catch that there was going to be concerns with the move and would have possibly intervened or at least counselled your wife," McLay said, according to the notice.
But McLay went on to tell the father the children would remain at their new school, pending an agreement or court order stating they must be transferred back to their old one.
The father said he and the MCFD contractor then met with McLay but to no avail and the outcome was the same when the matter was taken to school district superintendent Marilyn Marquis-Forster.
The father then wrote a letter to school board chair Tony Cable asking for an appeal of Marquis-Forster's decision but no mention of a response was made in the notice.
In mid-November, the B.C. Supreme Court heard a short order application from the father, seeking to reverse the transfer. The judge denied the request finding a reversal could cause additional "injury to injury," according to the notice.
The judge also said he could not give much weight to the contractor's position because he did not have a full understanding of her qualifications.
The father consequently requested the ex-wife be immediately transferred away from the school on the basis that her presence there contradicted the children's best interests for reasons of their mental health.
Marquis-Forster denied the request, saying that transferring the mother "would be tantamount to circumventing the court's decision."
The father is also seeking a court order requiring the school district educate teachers and administrators about the rights and responsibilities of separated parents under the Family Law Act and damages for the emotional distress the father claims to have suffered, with the proceeds donated to local charities of his choosing.
The school district has not yet filed a response and the allegations have not yet been tested in court.
