The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Highlights of the Provincial Executive Council meeting held Feb. 27–28, 2017, at Barnett House in Edmonton

1. Nominated a candidate for the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) 2017 Aboriginal ­Elder Award. This new CTF award will recognize the outstanding contributions of an aboriginal elder to public education in Canada.
2. Nominated a candidate for the CTF 2017 Special Recognition Award, which recognizes members who have made major contributions to their provincial/territorial organization or the CTF, and to public education in general.
3. Nominated one candidate for the Ordre des francophones d’Amérique, which honours people who have devoted their career to promoting French language and culture throughout America.
4. Directed the president to write a letter to the minister of education to relay the Association’s concerns at the minister’s recent media response of refusing to consider defunding private schools over a three-year period.
5. Approved 183 Council resolutions and 54 ­local resolutions for presentation to the 2017 Annual Representative Assembly (ARA); assigned speakers to each resolution; and, in the case of local resolutions, approved recommendations of concurrence, amendment and concurrence, nonconcurrence, referral for study and report, or action taken. The package of resolutions will be sent to locals, which will be asked to vote on whether they agree with Council’s position on each resolution.
6. Approved in principle and referred to staff for processing for the 2017 ARA three resolutions respecting the status of Roman Catholic denominational education as provided by separate school boards and the need to support teachers in separate schools.
7. Approved in principle, and referred to staff for processing for the 2017 ARA, one long-range policy and current directive on responsible investing that identifies and manages environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks.
8. Given a report on the funding status and future of the 2Learn.ca Education Society, approved bridge funding of up to $60,000 to support operations until Aug. 31, 2017, and amended the proposed 2017/18 budget to assume 2Learn.ca operations effective Sept. 1, 2017, with a proposed annual budget of $146,000.
9. Approved the promotion of National Aboriginal Day, which takes place June 21, 2017, through publication in existing Association resources.
10. Approved an extension to the 120-day hearing time period, established under the Teaching Profession Act, for three outstanding cases of alleged unprofessional conduct.
11. Received the report of a hearing committee, which found a teacher guilty of two charges of unprofessional conduct pursuant to the Teaching Profession Act for exchanging inappropriate text messages with a student, thus failing to treat the student with dignity and respect, contrary to article 4 of the Code of Professional Conduct, and by forming an inappropriate relationship with a student by providing money to the student for class preparation work, thus failing to treat the student with dignity and respect, contrary to article 4 of the Code of Professional Conduct. The hearing committee imposed the penalty of a severe letter of reprimand to address both charges and a fine of $1,000 payable within 90 days of receipt of the hearing report. Failure to pay the fine would result in the teacher being ineligible for membership in the Association.
12. Named Fred Kreiner, executive staff officer, as vice-chair of the Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan Board effective March 15, 2017, to replace Michael Kischuk, who is retiring from the board.
13. Approved an increase to the eligibility for administrators (principals, vice-principals and assistant principals) to participate in the Leadership Essentials for Administrators Conference from the first two years of their appointment to the first five years.
14. In an effort to continue promoting the provision of all essential information to substitute teachers, approved up to $7,500 for the printing and distribution of two reusable substitute teacher information folders to principals and school representatives at each school.
15. Approved the name of one person for nomination to Alberta Education for curriculum work as the need arises.
16. Approved Council’s participation in a ­blanket exercise when a future opportunity arises.