Kids Back To School But Situation Not Back To Normal

Teachers from across the city and region rallying at Kin Coulee on Oct. 8. (File photo)

Public schools across the city and region will be welcoming both teachers and students back to the classroom for the first time in more than three weeks Wednesday morning.

The city’s three school boards – the Medicine Hat School Division, Medicine Hat Catholic and FrancoSud – along with Prairie Rose will be operating normal bus and school schedules as of Oct.29.

School boards are advising parents and students Wednesday will be the first time back in the classrooms for teachers since the strike began on Oct. 6 and are asking for patience.

Additionally, school boards have adjusted previously scheduled professional development days. Timing and scheduling of reimbursements of fees for extracurricular activities will also depend on the school board.

Medicine Hat YMCA before and after school care will resume on Nov. 3.

But the situation is far from normal with the province legislating teachers back to work with the added proviso of invoking the notwithstanding clause to remove educators’ Charter rights to contest provincial laws in the courts.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) state they will not be pursuing work-to-rule job action and will leave it up to educators whether they wish to commit to any new initiatives beyond their current responsibilities.

And they will challenge the province’s actions in the court, according to a statement.

“The (ATA) has taken the position that it will pursue all legal alternatives to challenge Bill 2’s egregious assault on the collective bargaining rights of teachers and, by extension, all workers,” according to the association’s statement released Tuesday.

In a letter to parents on Tuesday, Alberta’s Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides indicated the province is turning the page on the labour action while outlining creation of a task force, action team and advisory council to deal with class sizes and complexity.

“The task force will use data collected from school boards to better support student needs and address classroom complexity. We will also expand access to student assessments, so that problems can be identified and addressed early,” stated Nicolaides. “I will personally be heading up the creation of a Teacher Advisory Council to ensure our government is able to hear directly from teachers when we make decisions or develop new policy.”

The Alberta Parent Payment Program set up to provide financial assistance will be open for applications until Nov. 14.