School boards are delving into the details of Alberta’s proposed Education Act following its reintroduction in the legislature last week.
At first blush, city school board trustees say the revised act looks promising with new provisions like a targeted approach to end bullying in schools and an emphasis on strengthening the partnerships in education.
“It’s certainly progressive,” said Adriana LaGrange, board chairwoman of the Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools. “It’s bringing the act into the 21st century. It fundamentally reinforces the school board’s autonomy and our ability to make local decisions.”
The new act was first introduced in last spring’s legislature after three years of public consultation and was pulled last fall for more consultation. When adopted, the act will replace the existing School Act.
LaGrange said there are a few provisions in the document that raise concerns for the Catholic district as a separate school division. The board had previously penned a letter to the Education minister about a clause that allows separate school residents to vote or to run for public school trustee.
“It gives separate electors an additional right that the general public doesn’t have,” said LaGrange.
“From a board perspective, we don’t feel that’s fair for the separate electors to have additional rights. We think it should be fair across the board.”
LaGrange said another provision allows parents to pull their children from religious education, which is concerning for a district where faith permeates the whole school experience.
“We would like more clarification that the Catholic schools would be exempt from that clause so down the road there would be no challenges to that,” said LaGrange.
Red Deer Public School District board chairman Lawrence Lee says he is concerned that a provision that allows school councils to advise the education minister directly on matters related to a school would diminish the power of the school boards’ governance and operation of schools.
“That’s concerning because that’s what we are elected to do,” said Lee. “On one hand, I support and encourage partnerships with good partners of education, which include parents and the students themselves. . . . It’s a new issue and it’s problematic, in my view.”
Trustees were pleased with the targeted approach to stop bullying in schools.
“School boards are required to establish a student code of conduct that addresses bullying behaviour,” said Lee. “That’s a good thing.”
The new act also raises the compulsory age of attendance from 16 to 17; allows students to stay in school until age 21 to get their high school diploma (previously it was age 19); and gives parents more access to information on their child’s education.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com