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Robert Bisson, coordinator of Member Services, will retire from the ATA early next year after almost 40 years as a member of the teaching profession. Bisson has attended all but two ARAs since 1976.
—Photos by Joyce Sherwin
Raymond Gariépy
ATA News Staff
Highlighted here are several resolutions debated at this year’s ARA. Resolutions approved at ARA.
There were no rancorous debates, poetic diatribes or bloodletting on the floor of this year’s annual assembly. It’s a safe bet that any heated debate likely played out over cold beers in the locals’ various hospitality suites as delegates talked hockey. That’s not to say that delegates kept quiet and sat on their hands for two days. But compared with recent assemblies, this year’s was low-key as delegates got down to business.
Funding levels in education
Two resolutions caught the attention of delegates and media alike. In her ARA speech, ATA President Carol Henderson referred to resolutions 147 and 148 as a “double-barrelled shotgun approach.” Resolution 147 calls on school boards in Alberta to “act on the expectation of the minister of education to maintain teacher staffing by utilizing reserves or going into short-term debt.” Many school boards have sufficient reserves to maintain staffing levels for 2009–11.
Resolution 148 urges the government to “honour the premier’s commitment to fully fund school boards for 2010 and 2011 increases in Alberta Average Weekly Earnings without reducing the commitment to the Class Size Inititative.” Proponents of the resolution told delegates that the government needs to fund its obligations. Both resolutions were heartily endorsed.
Redistricting and DR workload
At last year’s ARA, delegates soundly defeated a resolution that would have amended the boundaries of geographic districts. The goal of that resolution was to equalize the workloads of district representatives. Instead, ARA delegates handed Provincial Executive Council the mandate to create a committee that included rank-and-file teachers to study redistricting and district representative workload and to report to the 2010 ARA.
Noel Jantzie, former district representative for Calgary City, chaired the Committee on Redistricting and District Representative Workload. Based on the committee’s findings, some locals were reassigned to geographic districts that would address representation by population requirements. The move is designed to equalize the workloads of district representatives.
Delegates debated the wisdom of reassigning Fort McMurray Local No. 48 to the Edmonton City geographic district, to be known as Edmonton McMurray. For a list of geographic areas and locals, see “Resolutions approved at the 2010 ARA,” Resolution 143.
Resolution 144 ensures that geographic district boundaries are reviewed every 10 years, and Resolution 145 calls on the Association to re-examine the issue of redistricting and representation by population and report to the 2012 ARA. The call for a re-examination is based on expected population growth in the Greater Calgary area, possible legislation revisions and possible mergers of school boards.
Reinstating the written component of exams
An emergent resolution called for the reinstatement of the written component of provincial achievement tests and diploma examinations. Delegates said that removing the written component results in testing students’ skills and knowledge in only one area and “contradicts all assessment theory and practice.” The Assembly agreed but only after striking from the resolution the reference to provincial achievement tests. The resolution calls on Alberta Education to reinstate the written component for the January 2011 examinations.
Reviewing subgroup surpluses
A fiscal review in 2008 revealed that Association subgroups (locals and specialist councils) had a total surplus of more than $10 million, of which $9 million was unencumbered surplus. Of this amount, $6.6 million related to locals and amounted to $153 per member. Collectively, the 22 specialist councils had about $1.85 million, or $200 per member. At the 2009 ARA, delegates directed their Association to undertake a review of surpluses of locals and specialist councils and report to the 2010 Assembly.
Under the guidance of ATA Vice-President Sharon Armstrong, the Committee on Subgroup Surpluses met during the school year to draft guiding principles for subgroup financial operations and to review ATA grants and financial supports to address financial equity across subgroups. The committee’s report and recommendations were tabled at this year’s ARA, both of which are featured in the 2010 ARA Handbook.
Resolution 120 will see the ATA adopt budgetary guidelines for locals that ensure that locals do not maintain an unencumbered accumulated surplus of 50 per cent of annual fee revenues. Resolution 121 will see the ATA adopt similar guidelines for specialist councils.
Bob Worsfold, shown here without his cowboy hat, is the president of Chinook’s Edge Local No. 17. Worsfold is retiring this June and this was his last ARA.
