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Highlights of the Provincial Executive Council meeting held May 10–11, 2018, at Barnett House in Edmonton
1. Approved, for submission to the 2018 Annual Representative Assembly (ARA), resolutions (1) affirming that the public interest and the teaching profession are best served through teacher professional self-governance provided by a unitary organization that has responsibility for upholding the highest standards of professionalism; (2) resolving that the Association use all necessary means and resources to adamantly oppose any effort to divide or diminish its membership or reduce the scope of its objects, authority and activities; (3) urging the Department of Education to extend and expand its commitment to funding the Walking Together: Education for Reconciliation Professional Learning Project;
(4) urging the Department of Education to ensure that programs supporting certification and continuing professional development in relation to the Leadership Quality Standard and the Superintendent Quality Standard be available and accessible to all interested certificated teachers on an equitable basis; (5) urging the Department of Education to require that, as a condition of their approval and recognition, programs supporting certification and continuing professional development in relation to the Leadership Quality Standard and the Superintendent Quality Standard be developed with the meaningful participation of the Association and provide opportunities for the Association to provide relevant resources and deliver content relating to the professional role and responsibilities of school and system leaders; (6) urging the Department of Education to establish, fund and enforce district pupil/teacher ratio standards that are consistent with achieving Alberta’s Commission on Learning (ACOL) class size targets and providing appropriate support for students with complex needs; (7) urging the Department of Education to require school authorities to annually report which board-mandated standardized assessment instruments are being administered to students, the number of administrations per student, with the total cost of and time allocated for their administration; and (8) urging the Department of Education to require school authorities to implement policies mandating the collection, in a standard form and fashion, of information relating to incidents of violence and harassment affecting teachers and further require the submission of this information to the department for aggregation and reporting.
2. Approved, for submission to the 2018 ARA, two resolutions amending the Association’s budget for 2018/19 to provide for a subsidy to Summer Conference delegates incurring child-care expenses at a rate of $125 per child upon submission of an attested claim and to provide for a grant-in-aid to be paid to Association locals for their Summer Conference off-campus delegates at a rate of 50 per cent of the grant-in-aid provided for on-campus delegates.
3. Approved overexpenditures for the 2017/18 budget year to provide subsidization for off-campus 2018 Summer Conference delegates and child-care costs incurred by 2018 Summer Conference delegates upon submission of an attested claim.
4. Suspended the practice of announcing the local prevote at the 2018 ARA pending disposition of Resolution 2-37, which deals with this matter.
5. Charged the Association’s Table Officers Committee, in conjunction with staff, to undertake the creation of the scope, terms of reference and costing of proposals for an Association governance review and to include a governance review in the 2019/20 program prognoses.
6. Approved the Association’s bargaining goals for the 2018 round of central bargaining.
7. Approved the name of one teacher for nomination to Alberta Education for curriculum work as the need arises.
8. Approved the names of seven teachers for reappointment and two teachers for addition to the retirement consultants’ name bank, which is used as a source of appointments to the Association retirement consultants corps as the need arises.
9. Approved the frame of reference for the Clear Water Academy Teacher Welfare Committee and approved amendments to the frames of reference for the Black Gold Teacher Welfare Committee and the Wetaskiwin Teacher Welfare Committee.
10. Named three members of Council to a staff selection committee for two positions of executive staff officer, Teacher Welfare.
11. Approved the Association’s delegation to the 2018 Canadian Forum on Public Education, taking place in Edmonton, Alberta, July 9–10, 2018.
12. Approved amendments to the Administrative Guidelines to establish an annual work plan process for the Association’s standing committees and amended guidelines regarding travel expense reimbursement.
13. Directed the collection of information from other professional organizations in Alberta, and like organizations in Canada, with respect to the recovery costs associated with the processes relating to professional conduct matters.
14. Approved that the Association pursue cellular telephone discount offer pricing agreements with Telus Mobility and Rogers Communications.
15. Referred to the Committee on First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education to study and report back to Council on the recognition of Indigenous territory and whether current Association policy and practices provide appropriate recognition at its major meetings, conferences and events.
16. Approved Council committee and representation assignments for 2018/19.
17. Approved that, notwithstanding the Terms of Reference for the Edmonton Area Field Experiences Committee (EAFEC), Wetaskiwin Local No. 18 and Northern Spirit Local No. 6 are both eligible to nominate a representative to EAFEC for the 2018/19 committee year.
18. Amended the Terms of Reference for EAFEC to include a non-voting observer (named by the University of Alberta) from Red Deer College, Grande Prairie Regional College and Keyano College and to include representatives from Red Deer College EUS, Student Local No. 3, Keyano College ESA, Student Local No. 9 and Grande Prairie Regional College ESA, Student Local No. 8. ❚
