New Alberta government regulator for educators is floundering, critics say

Nearly two years after a government-appointed commissioner took over policing Alberta teachers, no disciplinary hearings have been held under the new process and decertifications have stalled. 

Some complainants and respondents say they've been left waiting months — sometimes more than a year — for any information or progress on their cases.

Five former employees of the Alberta Teaching Profession Commission (ATPC) who spoke to CBC News describe an operation that is chaotic, inconsistent, unfair and inefficient. CBC has agreed not to identify them due to their concerns about potential professional repercussions of speaking publicly. 

Past commission employees and the Alberta Teachers' Association said in interviews there is no prioritization of cases where teachers' behaviour could put students or colleagues at risk.

"Instead of going after the bad apples, they're shaking the whole apple tree," one former ATPC employee told CBC News.

The delays leave critics worried that teachers who may have harmed students are still working in classrooms.

Some teachers accused of wrongdoing say the long waits without information have left them sick with stress.

Morgan Derksen, who was a Grade 3 teacher in northern Alberta, said her career has been paralyzed for months while the commission investigates what Derksen says is a frivolous complaint about a social media video she posted while on parental leave.

"Every day I wake up and I'm just waiting for the piano to fall on my head," Derksen said in a September interview. "Every day since this happened, I am in constant fight or flight."

The Alberta Teachers' Association, the union representing about 46,000 educators, knows of 57 teachers whose cases before the commission have been stagnant for 300 days or longer.

Tim Jeffares, ATA's associate co-ordinator of regulatory affairs, says those teachers have not heard from the commission, been asked to present evidence, or had their case progress to the next stage for nearly a year. One teacher has waited more than 400 days for any information, Jeffares said.

"I can't think of a single case that's proceeding in any sort of reasonable time frame," Jeffares said.

In December 2021, then-Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced the United Conservative Party government would remove the ATA's power to police its members — a function the association had done for more than 80 years.

The ATA was the last teachers' organization in Canada to both discipline rule-breaking teachers and represent teachers during collective bargaining. LaGrange said it was a conflict of interest.