Alberta teachers and students prepare for a return to school after three-week strike
CBC
Parents, students and teachers across the province are gearing up for a return to school under the shadow of a government-mandated end to a three-week-long strike by Alberta educators.
School boards have been notifying parents of a planned return for Wednesday morning after Bill 2, also called the Back to School Act, was passed in the legislature early Tuesday morning.
Teachers have been on strike since Oct. 6, after a breakdown in contract negotiations and two rejected deals.
The Edmonton Catholic School Division posted an update telling parents school will resume. A similar statement was sent to parents from the Edmonton Public School Board saying that the board is now focusing on returning to routine as fast as possible.
Both Calgary's public and Catholic school boards, as well as Rocky View Schools, have said their schools will resume on Wednesday.
More than 51,000 teachers have been striking and about 750,000 students at public, Catholic and francophone schools have been out of school.
Sarah Hamilton, an education professor at Mount Royal University, said it’s important to understand students have been getting varying levels of engagement with their education during the strike.
“Not all parents have the flexibility and the availability to be providing that type of support for their children," she said.
Getting students caught up could be a longer process for some, Hamilton added. Rebuilding routines and structure — something she said is crucial for children — will also take time.
But teachers are going from being on strike to being on the clock in just a day.
Some teachers are probably scrambling to get lesson plans ready, said Vanessa Amyotte, a teacher from Spruce Grove and president of the Alberta Teachers' Association’s Evergreen Catholic Local 44.
She said she’s looking forward to a return to normal but noted there’s a large amount of anger about how the contract dispute was handled by the province.
Amyotte said it was like the government brought a “nuclear bomb to a crayon fight," and now, teachers have little time to be ready for what comes next.
“The government didn’t plan for us to have time to prepare," she said. "So we show up tomorrow morning with 35-40 kids in our room, and they're all expecting us to have lessons planned.”
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