Central Alberta school districts are torn over whether a teachers’ deal reached with the provincial government is a good move or not.
Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools likes it while Wolf Creek Public Schools is reluctantly in favour. Red Deer Public doesn’t like it, neither does Clearview School Division. Wild Rose Public Schools is undecided and Chinook’s Edge School Division is receptive.
Education Minister Jeff Johnson has said it is too early to decide what the province will do if more and more boards reject the deal.
Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools has recommended the Alberta School Board Association (ASBA) support the framework agreement reached between Government of Alberta and the Alberta Teachers’ Association on March 13.
Chairwoman Adriana LaGrange said the board believes the positive elements contained in the agreement outweigh its concerns.
“In particular, the board is pleased with the guaranteed four years of labour peace, the cost certainty of teacher salaries, the narrowing of the salary gap to the provincial average, the commitment to review teacher workload, and the full funding of the agreement by the government of Alberta,” said LaGrange in a news release on Thursday.
Red Deer Public Schools announced on Thursday it doesn’t support the deal as it stands right now because compensation is part of it.
Clearview School Division chairman Ken Checkel said the board rejected the deal on Thursday because of various issues. It liked the four-year term and the financial parts of the deal were good overall.
“We’re a little concerned — will the province be able to keep their commitment to pay these increases that are coming around in year three and four,” said Checkel on Friday.
The school board was also concerned about the 907-hour per year limit on teacher instruction time because the language in the agreement seemed to limit teachers’ workload rather than building teachers’ capacity, he added. It’s also raising questions over new committees proposed in this agreement because they could lead to more bureaucracy.
“It seems like in so many areas over the years that boards are being pushed to the side,” added Checkel. “Our role is being diminished. We’re concerned this is a long-term trend.”
Nancy McClure, chair of Wild Rose School Division, said the board won’t make a decision on whether it should support the deal until its board meeting on April 16.
“We will work to come up with a collective agreement that will work best for our students, given the boundaries that we may have,” said McClure.
“We are locally autonomous, so our decision doesn’t have to reflect the school board association.”
The ASBA reported on Thursday that it has a house divided on whether the deal is good.
Wolf Creek chair Trudy Bratland said that although the board hasn’t formally met to endorse a position, it is so far saying it “reluctantly favours” the agreement. They are still looking forward to the definitions that need to be spelled out in the agreement.
Bratland said the board is concerned about the process since the ASBA wasn’t part of the negotiations.
Kurt Sacher, superintendent for Chinook’s Edge School Division, said the board is very interested in four years of labour stability.
“They value greatly their relationship with their teachers, they communicate regularly with them and with what’s flowing through the pipes, there’s still a lot of work that has to be done,” said Sacher. “This has to go back to local bargaining tables, the way we understand it, for it to proceed.”
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com