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Learning in a licensed liquor facility?
Shelley Svidal
ATA News Staff
A school space crunch in Beaumont, special education and education funding were on the agenda as the legislature continued its spring sitting. Below are the highlights of some of the exchanges that took place April 19–21, when the legislature adjourned its spring sitting.
School Facilities in Beaumont
April 19—Alleging that, due to a shortage of school space, Grade 3 students in Beaumont must carry their desks across the street every day to a fully licensed liquor facility, New Democrat Leader Brian Mason asked Minister of Education Dave Hancock why government had failed to include Beaumont in its three-year capital plan. Hancock replied that he has asked ministry officials to work with the school boards serving Beaumont to find some early solutions. Mason asked Hancock how government can claim to be striking a balance when students must study in a community hall, which is used for licensed functions in the evening. Hancock replied that the issue is not the licensed facility but students crossing the street twice a day in the absence of an appropriate facility. He reiterated that government is working with the boards in an attempt to find solutions. Mason asked Hancock to ensure that Beaumont students have a properly equipped school. “There’s no question about it,” Hancock replied. “We need school facilities in Beaumont, and we need school facilities in Airdrie, and I’m working to get those done.”
Special-Needs Education Funding
April 20—Harry Chase (LIB—Calgary-Varsity) asked Minister of Education Dave Hancock what he had to say to parents concerned about the premature integration of students with special needs into regular classrooms. Hancock replied that premature integration is inappropriate. He added that he is committed to working with stakeholders to design the Setting the Direction for Special Education in Alberta implementation process, which must be done right. Referring to the situation in Calgary School District No. 19 and Edmonton Catholic Separate School District No. 7, Chase asked Hancock whether he would release details of government’s plan for special education. Hancock replied that, once he had secured internal policy approval, he would consult with the same people who were involved in Setting the Direction and others. “Let me be perfectly clear. Nothing is going to change overnight. This is a change in culture relative to moving from a diagnostic process to a learning-needs-based process. It’s going to involve a lot of work, and it has to be done right,” he said. Chase asked Hancock why he has mused publicly about eliminating the coding of students with special needs. Hancock replied that he has tried to respond to people who have asked him about coding. He added that government is not necessarily eliminating coding: although students with special needs will still have to be diagnosed by health care professionals, their assessment will not necessarily drive the learning process.
Education Funding
April 19—Alleging that government has refused to honour teachers’ collective agreements, Liberal Leader David Swann asked Minister of Education Dave Hancock whether government would provide greater autonomy to school boards so that they could provide for their needs. Hancock replied that government has honoured teachers’ collective agreements. “What we haven’t done this year is budgeted for a three per cent increase to the school boards’ budgets, and I’ve done that in the context of talking with school boards about how we work on a longer term plan to deal with the pressures faced by school boards in meeting their negotiated obligations as well as looking at how we better utilize the resources within the system,” he said. Reporting that the infrastructure debt of Calgary boards now exceeds $1 billion, Swann asked Hancock why government has not taken advantage of reduced labour and material costs by investing a portion of the sustainability fund in school infrastructure. Hancock replied that, while school infrastructure is an important priority for government, it is being addressed through the Alberta Schools Alternative Procurement program. Swann asked Hancock why government is freezing grants and “recklessly” abandoning a coding system for students with special needs. Hancock suggested that Swann read the Setting the Direction for Special Education in Alberta report, which, he added, would take time to implement.
Education System
April 19—Reporting that “many of the world’s leading educational thinkers believe that education systems around North America are systematically draining creativity out of our children by focusing on standardized curriculum, standardized instruction and standardized testing,” Manmeet Bhullar (PC—Calgary-Montrose) asked Minister of Education Dave Hancock what his ministry is doing to ensure that the system is developing and building on students’ natural ability and passion. Hancock identified Sir Ken Robinson as one of those thinkers. “I’d like to think that in Alberta . . . we are not doing that, but that obviously speaks to what’s happening in each and every one of our classrooms across the province,” he said, pointing to Inspiring Education: A Dialogue for Albertans as a process to determine education in the future. Bhullar asked Hancock how the system ensures that students do not become alienated or disengaged due to teaching and testing methods. Hancock replied by again pointing to Inspiring Education as a process to ensure the relevancy of education and good teacher preparation and professional development. Bhullar asked Hancock how the system assesses the performance of teachers. “[F]irst and foremost . . . we have to respect teachers as professionals,” Hancock replied. “Teachers have an obligation as professionals to keep themselves current and to understand what the challenges are with respect to the students that come before them in their classrooms and in their schools. That’s first and foremost. We have to understand and respect the role of principals as curricular leaders and their role to ensure that their teachers are engaging students and are engaged in modern and progressive pedagogy and educational practices. Beyond that, it’s a management issue with respect to teaching quality standards. We’re reviewing our teaching quality standards act, and we expect that all teachers will fall within the teaching quality standards.”
School Board Advertising
April 21—Noting that he had spotted on the back of a bus a large advertisement promoting Elk Island Public Schools Regional Division No. 14, Doug Griffiths (PC—Battle River–Wainwright) asked Minister of Education Dave Hancock why school boards spend money on advertising rather than on students and programs. Hancock described the question as a good one. He noted that advertising is considered part of the four to six per cent restriction on administrative funding and that school boards have autonomy over their funds. He speculated that per-capita funding encourages jurisdictions to advertise in order to attract students. Griffith asked Hancock whether any jurisdictions had developed a business case to show that advertising attracts enough students to offset the cost of the advertising. Hancock replied that, while he is not aware of any, he is not privy to such information. He added that boards are ultimately accountable to their electorate. Griffiths asked Hancock to begin discussions with boards about curbing their advertising to ensure that all education funding goes toward the education of students. Hancock replied that his ministry had begun that discussion with boards in 2009 in the course of talking about education funding and that those discussions would continue.
