Saskatoon private school owner surprised license was pulled

The Saskatoon School of Horticulture recently had it’s license pulled by the Ministry of Advanced Education for what it calls non-compliance of the Private Vocational Schools Regulation Act.

The Founder and Principal of the school, Patricia Hanbidge told John Gormley the move came as a shock.

“It was frankly surprising to see not only our license being lifted, but the kind of public slaying of the college, our students and everyone who has been associated with it,” said Hanbidge.

She also said they had been working with the ministry and were part of ongoing dialogues and even a comprehensive review of the curriculum.

“In 2017 the ministry did a complete in-depth, enormous review or our programs both face-to-face and by distance and they had nothing but good things to say about that,” Hanbidge said.

The ministry also cited student complaints as a reason for not renewing the school’s registration.

Hanbidge says in the history of the school they’ve only received one complaint, but acknowledges that times are changing.

“There seems to be a trend that when students call up the ministry, all of a sudden their opinion has taken a 180 and they have a different opinion of what they reported to us,” Hanbidge said.

She says her challenge now is to still try to serve the students in a way that isn’t regulated by the Saskatchewan government.