Sep. 09, 2009 - Issue #725: Sex in the City 2009
Issues
Back-to-school blues
Stories from teachers, parents reveal serious problems with the education system in Alberta
Talk to any parent or teacher for long enough this time of year, and
you're bound to eventually start hearing back-to-school stories. Whether it's
battles over shopping for school supplies, stress over just the right outfit
for the first day back, or simply excited kids bouncing off the walls in the
last week of holidays, everyone has their story.
My family's story this year, however, has been more punctuated by shock and
frustration than ever before. My 12 year-old twins last week started Grade 7
French immersion at McKernan School, but our back-to-school story actually
started the week before. While in the midst of spending hundreds of dollars
to purchase all of the supplies on the list provided by the school, and
spending hundreds more on new clothes and shoes that we know will no longer
fit come December, we received the annual notice from the school outlining
what our fees will be for this year.
At the bottom of each fee sheet in bolded font was the number $560. My brain
could simply not process how in a province where education is still supposed
to be public, universal and free, I was being asked to cut a cheque for $1120
so my kids could go to school.
One of the first questions that ran through my mind upon seeing the total
was, "What happens to parents who simply cannot afford to pay the fees?" The
answer, luckily, was written in large letters at the bottom of the fee
schedule: "All fees must be paid in full by September 30 unless other
arrangements have been made." In other words, if you cannot afford the fees,
it is up to you to suck up your pride and beg the school to give you a break,
and even then the best you can expect is to be put on some sort of monthly
payment plan for the fees.
I was still not entirely over the shock of the fees when, after the first day
of school, my partner and I sat down to ask our kids about their new class
and teacher. The first thing out of their mouths was concern about the fact
that there are 37 students in their class. That's not just their homeroom
class; they will travel with those same 37 students to all of their core
subjects. Anyone who has ever spent any time with a 12-year-old knows full
well the impossibility of not only keeping 37 of them in control, but also of
being able to collectively teach them something.
There's a reason that the Alberta Learning Commission recommended a maximum
class size for junior high of 25 students—having more than that does
damage to both the students and the teacher.
A line of angry and concerned parents immediately formed outside the
principal's office at the school, but these parents' concerns were met
with the response that nothing could be done, and with vague platitudes about
how bright the students were and how good the teachers were and that it
should not be a problem. Even if extra funding was found, explained the
principal, the priority would be to split up the kindergarten class at the
school—which currently has 30 students—not the Grade 7
class.
In my frustration, I began asking other parents and teachers for their
back-to-school stories, and I quickly discovered that ours is not an isolated
or extreme case. I heard from a high school English teacher who currently has
38 students in her class, and only 35 desks. I heard from the parent of a
special needs student who had to fight up the entire bureaucracy all the way
to the superintendent to secure a classroom aid for his child. And the parent
in southern Alberta who was told, essentially, that the only acceptable
diagnosis and treatment for her child was ADHD and medications, and
subsequently had to spend thousands of dollars outside the school system to
obtain specialized support for her child's severe reading disability. Or the
teacher in Edmonton who actually had an administrator go in and arbitrarily
alter her marks after she had submitted them.
The stories go on and on, but they give a very clear sense of a system that
is broken and badly in need of repair. For all of the government's rhetoric
about prioritizing the education of children, the reality is very different.
It has been six years since the Alberta Commission on Learning reported back
to the government with a series of recommendations on kindergarten, funding,
class size and numerous other issues, and the reality is that all of those
recommendations continue to gather dust on the shelves.
At the same time the provincial government has just undergone a province-wide
"conversation" with Albertans about what our education system will look like
in the future. The problem, however, is that the minister made it very clear
that there was to be no discussion at all in this "conversation" about what
the system looks like today. The government knows that the system is in
disarray, and they are purposefully choosing to look the other way.
The truly sad and frustrating part is that things are in the process of
getting worse. As bad as things are today, Alberta Education announced the
week before school started that they would be clawing back some $44 million
in accumulated surpluses from school boards around the province. That same
week he asked all school boards in Alberta to "trim" one percent from their
operating budgets for the 2009 – 2010 school year, which would mean
another $56 million in cuts.
Now Education Minister David Hancock has issued notice to school boards that,
there will be even bigger budget cuts coming next year. In other words, as
bad as things are today—and have been for the last five
years—they are about to get much, much worse. Teachers will lose jobs,
class sizes will continue to grow, supports for special needs students will
disappear, school fees will increase exponentially, infrastructure will
literally crumble and our children's education will suffer greatly as a
result.
The rationale from the government, of course, is the same as that given to
me by my kids' principal—we have no options, we have no money. This may
be true for the principal but it certainly isn't for the provincial
government. This is, after all, the same government that has managed to find
$2 billion for carbon capture and storage, over $5 billion in royalty breaks
to the oil and gas industry and over $22 million in severance payouts for
fired health managers. It's not about a lack of money, it's about
priorities.
And we as parents make it easier for them to ignore the needs of the
education system because we don't complain—we suck it up and do what's
necessary for our kids to succeed despite the system. Teachers do
likewise—suck it up and do whatever it takes to educate and nurture
despite a system that seems designed to keep that from happening. When we do
complain and speak up as parents and teachers, we tend to make targets out of
each other, rather than out of the government that is ultimately responsible
for this mess.
If we truly value education, and truly value our children's well-being, then
it's time to stand up and be heard. Call your school board reps. Call your
MLA. Call Ed Stelmach and Dave Hancock. Organize other concerned parents at
your children's school. Rally in front of their offices, or at the
legislature. Take action and demand that our education system be
prioritized—with funding and with a structure that works. If we don't,
then we stand to lose what little is left of our public education system in
this province. V
Ricardo Acuña is executive director of the Parkland Institute, a non-partisan public policy research institute housed at the University of Alberta.
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