ATA president to speak at SACPA

By Jensen, Randy on April 29, 2020.

Schilling to discuss education layoffs during COVID-19

LETHBRIDGE HERALD

A release from the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs notes the Alberta government has arguably missed an opportunity to show leadership during the COVID-19 crisis by directing provincial school boards to lay off tens of thousands of education workers.

Teachers and educational assistants (EAs) work closely together to facilitate student learning. EAs were still being utilized to support students in need of accommodations along with those students with inadequate access to technology.

The Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) estimates around 6,000 substitute teachers and up to 20,000 support staff are affected by the funding cut.

While the federal government has stepped up to protect people and the economy through a compassionate stop-gap program, that still leaves many at-risk kids without the support needed to succeed. Thursday’s SACPA speaker, ATA president Jason Schilling, will explain the shortfalls many students are likely to experience during the mandated “learning at home” way of going to school, without the help of EAs and support staff. The speaker will also explore the future impacts of this decision when schools prepare to reopen at a future date.

Schilling was elected president of the 45,000-member ATA in 2019 following two years of service as vice-president and more than eight years of service as district representative for South West. Prior to his election as president of the ATA, Schilling was an English and drama teacher at Coaldale Kate Andrews High School, where he worked for the last 17 years.

Thursday’s livestream session will take place at 10 a.m. on YouTube Live link: https://youtu.be/iKljIIm6b10.

In order to ask questions of our speaker in the chat feature of YouTube, you must have a YouTube account and be signed in. You can only participate in the chat feature while the session is livestreaming.

For further info visit the SACPA website http://www.sacpa.ca.

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