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Shelley Svidal
Although Janice Sarich may be a rookie MLA, the new parliamentary assistant to the minister of education brings a veteran’s experience to her new role.
Premier Ed Stelmach introduced the role of parliamentary assistant March 12 to assist ministers with the work of their ministry and provide MLAs with ministry experience. Appointed by the premier and responsible to their minister, parliamentary assistants will perform a variety of duties, including overseeing operation of a major program or initiative, carrying bills through the legislative assembly and its committees, leading ministry stakeholder consultations, attending events on behalf of their minister and participating on special task forces or advisory groups. Parliamentary assistants will receive their assignments from their minister and administrative support from the ministry.
One of 10 parliamentary assistants, Sarich holds a bachelor of physical education degree and a master of education degree from the University of Alberta. Before entering public office, she served as president of her own business consulting company, providing services in the areas of strategic planning and policy primarily to organizations in the private and quasi-public sectors. In 2001, Sarich was elected as a trustee of Edmonton Catholic Schools and was re-elected in 2004 for a second term. In 2007, she decided to seek the Progressive Conservative nomination for Edmonton-Decore.
Asked to reflect on her experiences in elementary and secondary school, Sarich recalls with fondness one Mr. Delaney, her junior high school coach, who guided her in the direction of athletics. She played on her school’s volleyball and basketball teams and was well prepared to continue those sports in high school, receiving a major athletic award in Grade 12. Other teachers also influenced her in terms of “what I learned about teamwork and aspiring as a young person to have better health and wellness and balancing that with academic studies. At that time, I was becoming a better student.”
Sarich says she was honoured to serve as a trustee of Edmonton Catholic Schools and particularly by the opportunity to represent the district at the retirement functions of some of her favourite teachers. “I was very honoured and privileged to be able to recognize them from my perspective as an elected person when it came time to bid adieu to everyone through retirement,” she says. “I think that that’s a bit rare when you start out as a student and you come back as a trustee . . . recognizing their time that they have spent with the district and how they helped shape the district.”
She was also honoured to be considered for her appointment as parliamentary assistant to the minister of education. She expects her six years of service as a school trustee, her master’s degree in education and her experience in strategic planning and policy will serve her well in her new role supporting Minister of Education Dave Hancock.
Hancock and Sarich are working on her mandate, and in due course, she will receive a mandate letter from Hancock similar to the mandate letters Stelmach provided his cabinet ministers. “We are in a dialogue about specific things that I’ll be doing as part of my role as parliamentary assistant,” she says.
According to Sarich, the overarching strength of the public education system is its focus on children and youth. “Everything else wraps around children and youth,” she says. “We’re trying to build upon all of the talents and learning opportunities for children and youth in this province, and school boards strive to do that at a high order of excellence because they’re mandated to do that. That is the strength, and it’s a very powerful one. It helps position the province provincially, nationally and internationally.”
Sarich describes herself as a strong advocate for such issues as the education of students with special needs, early childhood development, and sustainable and predictable funding for school boards. At the same time, she points out that the ministry’s goals and strategies will become clearer with the release of the provincial budget and business plans on April 22. “I’m very passionate about all the great things that go on in the education system, [but] there is a reality check,” she says. “There are challenges and issues that . . . remain unresolved or need more attention, and I’m going to try my very best to advance them so that there are improvements.”
She notes that the recent memorandum of agreement between the Alberta Teachers’ Association and the Government of Alberta regarding the unfunded liability of the teachers’ pension plan provides for five years of labour peace. With the unfunded liability resolved, “the focus now turns more directly to the happenings in the classroom, the classroom conditions and really teaching and learning for children and youth across the province,” she says.
─Photo by Koni Macdonald
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