Highlights of the Provincial Executive Council meeting held May 12 and 13, 2011, at Barnett House in Edmonton
1. Approved, for submission to the 2011 Annual Representative Assembly (ARA), resolutions urging government (1) to immediately restore education funding levels by a minimum of $100 million so that school boards can maintain class sizes, programs and staffing; (2) to adopt an adequacy-based funding model for education and establish an independent Office of Education Budget and Policy Analysis that would involve key education partners and inform funding decisions; (3) to continue, in consultation with the profession and other stakeholders, the process of educational transformation while ensuring that such transformation is adequately supported and funded; and (4) to restore funding to the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement and ensure that the implementation of the program within school jurisdictions is consistent with its founding principles.
2. Approved, for presentation from the floor of the 2011 ARA, an amendment to a resolution regarding Grade Level of Achievement reporting.
3. Named Margaret V. Preston, a teacher in Northern Gateway Regional Division No. 10, and Christopher M. Gibbon, a teacher in Prairie Land Regional Division No. 25, to the positions of executive staff officer, Teacher Welfare, effective 2011 08 01.
4. Approved a donation to the Media Awareness Network for Media Literacy Week, scheduled for November 7–11, 2011.
5. Subject to budgetary approval, directed that, beginning in 2012/13, the Leadership Essentials for Administrators Conference and the Legal Issues for School Administrators Seminar alternate between Calgary and Edmonton and that each city host only one of the events in a given year.
6. Subject to budgetary approval, directed the Association to provide grants-in-aid to locals attending the Legal Issues for School Administrators Seminar, beginning in 2012/13.
7. Directed the Association to profile the Educational Leadership Academy in an issue of SR Digest and encourage locals to sponsor at least one administrator to attend the event.
8. Directed the Association to develop a monograph on what school administrators new to the province need to know.
9. Directed the Association to urge locals to encourage members who are administrators to join the Council on School Administration and to participate in committees at the local level.
10. Directed the Association to investigate the prospect of developing welcoming activities for all new administrators, including those new to the province.
11. Referred Professional Practice Competencies for Teachers to the Council on School Administration for analysis and feedback.
12. Approved in principle The Alberta Professional Practice Competencies for School Leaders.
13. Approved Council committee and representation assignments for 2011/12.
14. Notwithstanding administrative guidelines, extended to June 30, 2012, the term of one Council member as a member of Finance Committee.
15. Amended administrative guidelines regarding specialist council membership and membership services and the specialist council grant structure.
