School District 57 is denying any wrongdoing in response to a Prince George father's lawsuit over a decision to allow his children to be transferred to a school where their mother works without his permission.
In a response filed in December, the school district said the transfer was made for "no improper purpose and with no improper motivation" and contended that the plaintiff knew the move would not have been made if he provided for daycare costs.
In late November, the father, who will not be named to protect the children's identities, filed a notice seeking a court order forbidding her from working in the same school the children are attending.
He said the children were transferred in early November, two months into the school year, without notice to him and asserted his ex-wife should have first secured the court's permission.
He acknowledged the mother's "stated reason" for the move was her inability to afford daycare absent his contributions but added that also told her he had multiple financial claims against her.
And he said the matter should have gone to family court for a determination. Instead, he said the transfer was done without that step being taken.
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 father's notice.
The father subsequently 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.
School district superintendent Marilyn Marquis-Forster denied the request, saying that transferring the mother "would be tantamount to circumventing the court's decision."
In its response, the school district said the father's lawsuit amounts to a "collateral attack" on the judge's decision to uphold the transfer and so is an abuse of process.
The school district also said the father was aware a transfer could happen but took no steps to notify the school district of the possibility and that he opposed it. It was also not aware of any court order that would have prevented the transfer at the time it occurred, the school district said.
The father is continuing his battle. In a letter to the school district's lawyer, which he also sent to The Citizen, he said he will still push to have the mother transferred to another school and to have the school district's policies and procedures related to the Family Law Act.
"This I will not negotiate," he said.
However, he will accept a $1 settlement if the defendants admit they were negligent and breached their duty of care in allowing the transfer to occur.
The allegations have not yet been tested in court.
