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Groups representing Alberta teachers and parents are joining forces to launch a $1-million ad campaign against “reckless changes” to the province’s public education system.
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At a Tuesday morning press conference, Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) president Jason Schilling said that conditions such as increasing class sizes and “a dangerous and regressive,” Kindergarten to Grade 6 draft curriculum amount to an attack on public education in the province.
“They’ll have major consequences,” Schilling said, “and they’re happening at a time when parents, teachers and children continue to juggle the challenges of an ongoing pandemic.”
The campaign is a partnership between the ATA and the Alberta School Councils’ Association (ASCA), which represents parents sitting on school councils across the province. Schilling noted that the cost of the campaign will run about $1 million and include radio, print and online advertising.
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ASCA president Brandi Rai, who’s also a mother of five school-aged children, outlined the struggles of parents over the past 19 months, forced to balance their careers and family responsibilities on top of their children’s education amid a “roller coaster” of public health measures.
“We are stretched, we are weary, we are worried and we are invested in education because our children are important and they deserve a quality education,” Rai said, adding that both parents and teachers have a shared responsibility in protecting students’ futures. “That’s why parents couldn’t sit this one out.”
The campaign includes an open letter addressed to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Education Minister Adriana LaGrange echoing the associations’ concerns.
More to come…
