October 6 - So it Begins - The Alberta Teacher Strike

[GirlySports]

I don't know what is the solution for zoning. Parents look at the lists of good schools and then just move into a walking zone of that neighborhood and they're in.

Maybe that shouldn't be allowed, there should be a one year delay or a draw of some sort with weighted odds how long you've lived there. Because schools get overloaded really fast while following the rules.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I don't know what is the solution for zoning. Parents look at the lists of good schools and then just move into a walking zone of that neighborhood and they're in.

Maybe that shouldn't be allowed, there should be a one year delay or a draw of some sort with weighted odds how long you've lived there. Because schools get overloaded really fast while following the rules.

Or maybe we should have enough public schools that this isn't a thing that people need to resort to. Outside the box thinking, I know.

[Tiger]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Boo hoo.

If it's that bad take up a different occupation.

Good luck finding one with 10 weeks vacation, 6 hour days and a fat pension.

I've taught a few courses at a college level. The one thing I always joke about (but not actually joking) is that I owe a lot of teachers an apology. The amount of work needed to do a good job is crazy. obviously the longer you do it the more material you have in place. But with constantly change curriculum etc. and just the fact of marking for 30+ kids it takes a #### load of time. The 6 hours a day is a joke number, its probably more like 10.

I've worked hard jobs before, I worked higher up jobs. And the hardest I worked was when I was teaching courses. And I was only teaching a few at a time. The desire to do a good job and wanting to add value to 30+ students also means likely, the better a teacher you are the more hours you are actually putting in.

Not to mention the virtually free hours teachers do for sports and clubs.

So a comment like this is ignorant. I don't blame you, I just assume from this is you don't have kids, or never worked in a similar industry and just don't realize what it is like. And another thing UCP voters should think about, better education would improve and diversify the economy long term!

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Or maybe we should have enough public schools that this isn't a thing that people need to resort to. Outside the box thinking, I know.

I'm not sure that we don't. There are schools with smaller classes sizes because kids moved away.

2023 Enrollment Report

But then there's hiring of teachers too, not just schools. Say you have 36 grade 1 students in your school. If that one class or two?

[EldrickOnIce]

Seems pretty clear the union doesn't really understand what the needs of their membership are? Or explain, please. Why was there a tentative agreement with the union and the province, that the teachers then overwhelmingly rejected? Or is that just the process - you bring the best deal to a vote?

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Seems pretty clear the union doesn't really understand what the needs of their membership are? Or explain, please. Why was there a tentative agreement with the union and the province, that the teachers then overwhelmingly rejected? Or is that just the process - you bring the best deal to a vote?

My understanding was the government said they were not willing to negotiate on class size caps or many other issues. The union bargaining team got what they could on the areas where negotiation was possible and then presented that to the union with the expectation that it would be rejected and hopefully they could pressure the government to start negotiating on these issues.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by GGG

You can add portables to schools in 1-2 years pretty easily to address space
Issues

You still need space for those as well.

The new high schools down south (Seton, All Saints, etc) had portables and extensions put on almost immediately to accommodate the amount of students they had and they're still over capacity. They're also not allowed to turn away students that move into the neighbourhood and those communities are still building hundreds of homes.

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I don't know what is the solution for zoning. Parents look at the lists of good schools and then just move into a walking zone of that neighborhood and they're in.

Maybe that shouldn't be allowed, there should be a one year delay or a draw of some sort with weighted odds how long you've lived there. Because schools get overloaded really fast while following the rules.

One other solution is to try to raise the floor for what is considered a "bad" school.

If it's not the standard Fraser institute type of what good and bad schools mean (ie. white, rich, no disabilities), then that's something that can be addressed with stronger funding and dropping the need for people to get into a "good" school.

They can make sure schools don't get dilapidated, with good playground and teaching equipment (new textbooks/libraries/computers etc.) and of course class sizes, EA resources and all that. Raising the floor might make a few more people not need to find an address to go to a good school.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by surferguy

It’s time to start writing letters I guess.

Who do I need to send these to? Demetrios? Smith?

My own MLA is an ANDPer do I need to send one to her as well?

Sorry that I am late. If you are sending a letter I would recommend you send it to Nicolaides, Smith, Horner on the UCP decision making side but include Nenshi, Chapman (Education Critic) and your local MLA.

It is even better if your local MLA is UCP because then you can stress that this will sway your vote away from that MLA (even if they did not have your vote to begin with).

[Kybosh]

What's the deal with conservatives trying to tear down the same institutions they themselves greatly benefited from (pronounced like Seinfeld)?

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

What's the deal with conservatives trying to tear down the same institutions they themselves greatly benefited from (pronounced like Seinfeld)?

That’s what conservative means now. Conserve everything that was good for you so that you’re the only one who can have/have had it.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well, all I mean is that those things take time. You're not just magically constructing schools to resolve this strike. This is why I think that the resolution of the strike means trusting the government to follow through...which I know for sure is not something that you think is a great idea!

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The province can announce funding for more schools. But based on previous pledges, you’re looking at 5+ years between when the funding is announced and when the schools start opening their doors to students.

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/pol...uditor-general

The UCP made this big promise to build schools and then forgot to put any school-building money in the budget.

It is impossible to build schools if you allocate $0 toward building schools.

The UCP are liars and that is a big part about what this strike is about. There needs to be a contract that ties the hands of bad faith actors (the UCP) to force them to do the things they said they were going to do anyway. Funding public education closer to the national average instead of the lowest in the country would also be a good thing to tie the government to.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

There were some good signs at the rallys

My fav one 'If we call it the Education Pipeline, will you fund it properly?'

Now that's how you execute a rally.

[DownInFlames]

Do not refer to “the taxpayer” when you just mean yourself.

I think everyone can agree that government works best when it invests in positive future outcomes. An educated populace is top of that list, unless you want people dumb and angry, which this government wants because they personally benefit from it.

[Mr.Coffee]

Some dude on my LinkedIn is claiming that a 0.05% drop in productivity in Alberta equates to a range of cost for AB at $30-50mm per day in economic output. I have no idea how he’s coming up with that haha but kind of interesting and just generally true that the gov should factor in the opportunity cost of lost economic output by forcing all businesses that have people to adjust to this reality by figuring out child care (work from home, cost, etc.).

He also makes a claim that he believes the demand from teachers to be met by the gov only requires an additional $200mm.

Not sure if any of that is true, don’t have time to go research it all.

[Two Fivenagame]

I think it would be funny if Marlaina's $150 strike bucks got funneled back to the teachers to help them hold out longer. Like a go fund me or something.

[FacePaint]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Seems pretty clear the union doesn't really understand what the needs of their membership are? Or explain, please. Why was there a tentative agreement with the union and the province, that the teachers then overwhelmingly rejected? Or is that just the process - you bring the best deal to a vote?

The ATA did not recommend ratification and that's an important point. In order to let membership see what was in the final offer they had to put it to members. If they had not put it to members and rejected outright many would have been upset going on strike without knowing the details of the final offer.

The UPC has clearly twisted this to say the ATA doesn't know what their members want. Funny enough, UCP had had 2 years to negotiate and plays ignorant to this day. It's outright disrespectful.

[flamingreen]

Originally Posted by Two Fivenagame

I think it would be funny if Marlaina's $150 strike bucks got funneled back to the teachers to help them hold out longer. Like a go fund me or something.

Well, teachers do have children themselves. So ….

[woob]

Originally Posted by Slava

I get that it's not about salaries and it's about class sizes and complexity in the classroom. What I don't think I get, is how that is going to be easily resolved. We can't just hire more teachers, and we can't just build more schools.

So, the resolution here is what? Trust that the UCP is going to do this in the years to come? I have a hard time with that, and there is no way I'm alone in that.

"We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas."

[Point Blank]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

Do not refer to “the taxpayer” when you just mean yourself.

I think everyone can agree that government works best when it invests in positive future outcomes. An educated populace is top of that list, unless you want people dumb and angry, which this government wants because they personally benefit from it.

I’m getting dumber and angrier reading DoubleK’s posts. Maybe there’s a spot for him in the UCP cabinet.