Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Yeah, I'm pretty aware, my kids go to one of them.

The difference is they didn't look at my kids grades or profile when they were applying for entry. Their names went in a hat.

That's significantly different from subjecting them to an IQ test:

https://www.westmountcharter.com/admissions/

The GATE program at the CBE has assessment (effectively IQ) requirements.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The GATE program at the CBE has assessment (effectively IQ) requirements.

Yes, that's a special needs program, not an entire school. The same way the CBE has programs to help kids with learning disabilities.

There is no IQ test as an admission requirement to any CBE school.

[#-3]

I'm just thinking it starts to look like special pleading. Rejecting the idea that Charter Schools are public schools but CBE 'special' programs are public schools, when they are offering similar programs, at the same cost, with the same funding models, reporting requirements and comparable admissions criteria.

If Gate is a Special needs program with admission criteria, than so is Westmount.

If CBEs science program accepts kids on a lottery and returns other to conventional, that exactly what Stem Innovation does.

CBE runs the TLC on a waitlist/lottery model and so does FFCA.

Can we all agree to just hate on the fact that we have a public religious school board.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by #-3

Can we all agree to just hate on the fact that we have a public religious school board.

I’m here for it. For all the questions around charter schools, publicly-funded religious schools are undeniably absurd.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Because the CBE doesn’t run “exclusionary” programs. Something like GATE isn’t “cherry picking quality students,” it’s a program for children with special needs who have, presumably, not had those needs met up to Grade 3 and have had an assessment done showing they are “gifted.” These are students that may actually be struggling academically and socially in the primary education stream.

That’d be like arguing ESL is an exclusionary program because it cherry picks quality students.

Charter schools, on the other hand, can and do pick and choose students based on criteria that often does not involve special needs, and in fact, in many, special needs are unwelcome.

Have you read the admissions criteria for these schools? For the most part it's pretty much the same as the CBE. And in general their school boards are more transparent than the CBE.

Calgary Arts - first-come, first-served basis
Classical Academy - Wait-list
Connect - Lottery
Foundations Future - Lottery / Wait List
Stem Innovation - Lottery

Westmount and CBE.GATE could be put in a different bucket. I could even go on a screed about people have to be gaming the system to get in, and how it's statistically implausible that Westmount found 1200 students in Calgary with an IQ over 130 who paid for all of that testing, applied and successfully registered in their program. But I do still think there is value in a program pushes kids a little hard, depending on the circumstances.

Calgary Girls Charter - I couldn't find info on it. (But sending you daughter to an all girls school? what year is this?)

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by #-3

Calgary Girls Charter - I couldn't find info on it. (But sending you daughter to an all girls school? what year is this?)

I don't understand this.

I can't see the difference between this and "Calgary School for Blacks".

Or "Calgary Catholic School".

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by #-3

Calgary Girls Charter - I couldn't find info on it. (But sending you daughter to an all girls school? what year is this?)

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I don't understand this.

I can't see the difference between this and "Calgary School for Blacks".

Or "Calgary Catholic School".

For the record CBE also runs an all boys program and there appears to be another school with separate streams for boys and girls. Theory being boys and girls learn differently.

https://www.northpoint.school/

https://allboys.cbe.ab.ca/

[#-3]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I don't understand this.

I can't see the difference between this and "Calgary School for Blacks".

Or "Calgary Catholic School".

I actually very much see a difference between those 2 options and an all girls school. But like I was trying to say, I can't really empathize with wanting to send your daughter to an all girls school, it feels at the very least antiquated.

*as an aside the CBE offers an all girls and an all boys option. So again this conversation isn't about charter schools, it's about the choices that public schools are offering.

edit-guess I was typing a little slow

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Nobody is guaranteed a spot in the CBE Science Schools (ie Louis Riel). Applications far exceed capacity, and admissions are determined by a lottery weighted by geography and if siblings attend the school.

Admissions in the CBE Science program are based on a lottery. Not true in charter schools.

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

How do you feel about Francosud in Alberta. They are a public school board across Alberta but they have guidelines for admission and students/families are turned away from this public system if they don't meet those.

The guidelines include:
To be eligible for entitlement status , you must meet one of the following three criteria:

1. Canadian citizen whose first language learned and still understood is French; OR
2. Canadian citizen who received primary education in French in Canada , OR
3. Canadian citizen whose child has received or is receiving primary or secondary education in French as a first language in Canada.

For Special cases:
A temporary or permanent resident whose child has received or is receiving instruction, at the primary or secondary level , in French as a first language in Canada , has the right to have all of his or her children educated in a FrancoSud school, at the primary and secondary levels.

And there are 5 exceptional case situations which you can read here:
https://francosud.ca/accueil/ecoles/admissibilite/

Primary language education rights for french speaking people are protected in the charter.

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Not sure why that’s relevant. If you’re denied admission to a charter school, you’re also guaranteed a spot in a CBE school.

Let’s say you’re parents who want their nerdy kid to go to a nerdy school. You apply to both the CBE Science program and the STEM Innovation Academy. How is one more exclusionary than the other?

The difference is that STEM Innovation Academy can admit (or not admit) and keep (or not keep) kids on the basis of their academics and the CBE Science program doesn't.

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Yeah, I'm pretty aware, my kids go to one of them.

The difference is they didn't look at my kids grades or profile when they were applying for entry. Their names went in a hat.

That's significantly different from subjecting them to an IQ test:

https://www.westmountcharter.com/admissions/

Exactly

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The GATE program at the CBE has assessment (effectively IQ) requirements.

It's been explained already multiple times but the GATE program is a special needs program for children who aren't having their needs met in a typical classroom. There is an internal referral process, no applications are allowed.

Originally Posted by #-3

I'm just thinking it starts to look like special pleading. Rejecting the idea that Charter Schools are public schools but CBE 'special' programs are public schools, when they are offering similar programs, at the same cost, with the same funding models, reporting requirements and comparable admissions criteria.

If Gate is a Special needs program with admission criteria, than so is Westmount.

If CBEs science program accepts kids on a lottery and returns other to conventional, that exactly what Stem Innovation does.

CBE runs the TLC on a waitlist/lottery model and so does FFCA.

Can we all agree to just hate on the fact that we have a public religious school board.

Charter schools admit/don't admit and keep/don't keep students based on their performance/academics/special needs. Public schools don't/can't. You're not getting this important point.

Originally Posted by #-3

Have you read the admissions criteria for these schools? For the most part it's pretty much the same as the CBE. And in general their school boards are more transparent than the CBE.

Calgary Arts - first-come, first-served basis
Classical Academy - Wait-list
Connect - Lottery
Foundations Future - Lottery / Wait List
Stem Innovation - Lottery

Westmount and CBE.GATE could be put in a different bucket. I could even go on a screed about people have to be gaming the system to get in, and how it's statistically implausible that Westmount found 1200 students in Calgary with an IQ over 130 who paid for all of that testing, applied and successfully registered in their program. But I do still think there is value in a program pushes kids a little hard, depending on the circumstances.

Calgary Girls Charter - I couldn't find info on it. (But sending you daughter to an all girls school? what year is this?)

I know a lot of these schools SAY they have a lottery for admissions... But in reality they are pushing students out or not admitting students who don't "fit" their charter goals and their performance expectations. If a student with severe/moderate needs shows up at their door on day 1 after winning the lottery to get in, they're going to push that student back out the door under the guise of "we don't have the supports your child needs".