The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Highlights of the Provincial Executive Council meeting held May 10, 2012, at Barnett House

1. Approved, for submission to the 2012 Annual Representative Assembly, resolutions urging government (1) to ensure stable funding for education by ensuring that annual increases in grants allocated on a per-student basis are sufficient to cover increases in costs and are not less than the annual increase in Alberta’s rate of inflation; (2) to ensure that applications for establishment or renewal of charter schools be refused if a school authority commits to providing in the community an alternative program substantially similar to that proposed in a charter application; (3) to expedite the elimination of Grade 3 and Grade 6 provincial achievement tests in their current form and the implementation of ­"regular but sensitive measurements of academic performance and ­expected outcomes" designed to inform curriculum improvement; (4) to expedite the implementation of fully funded optional full-day kindergarten programs by public education authorities, delivered by certificated teachers; and (5) to recognize, in the development and implementation of policy and regulations and in funding, teachers’ need for sufficient time to undertake planning, lesson preparation, assessment, collaboration and other professional activities supporting instruction and student learning within a reasonable ­working day.
2. Permitted convention boards to provide an honorarium when teachers make a presentation at their own teachers’ convention but only if the convention board has disclosed the proposed payments to the school board and ensured that the acceptance of such payments by teachers would not breach any applicable school board policy.
3. Received the report of a hearing committee, which found a teacher guilty of one charge of unprofessional conduct for accessing and attempting to access Internet pornography through the employer’s computer equipment, at school, after hours, thereby failing to maintain the honour and dignity of the profession. The hearing committee imposed the penalty of a letter of severe reprimand.
4. Received the report of a ­hearing committee, which found a teacher guilty of three charges of unprofessional conduct for violating the school district and provincial protocols for administration of the Grade 6 English Language Arts Provincial Achievement Test, thereby failing to maintain the honour and dignity of the profession; for making a comment to the teacher’s students to discourage them from telling their parents about the teacher’s actions, thereby failing to treat the teacher’s students with respect and consideration for their circumstances; and for making a comment to the teacher’s students to discourage them from telling their parents about the teacher’s actions, thereby failing to maintain the honour and dignity of the profession. The hearing committee imposed the penalty of a letter of reprimand to address all three charges.
5. Received the report of a hearing committee, which found a teacher guilty of two charges of unprofessional conduct for sending inappropriate text messages to a student, thus failing to treat the student with dignity and respect and with consideration for the student’s circumstances, and for sending inappropriate text messages to a student, thus failing to maintain the honour and dignity of the profession. The hearing committee imposed the penalty of a letter of severe reprimand and a fine of $500 on each charge. Failure to pay the fines within 60 days of receipt of the report will result in a declaration that the teacher is ineligible for membership in the Association.
6. Approved a frame of reference for St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Separate Regional Division No. 38 teachers’ Economic Policy Committee.
7. Amended the frames of ­reference of area field experiences committees.
8. Approved Council committee and representation assignments for 2012/13.
9. Nominated a field member to serve on the Canadian Teachers’ Federation’s (CTF) Advisory Committee on French as a First Language.