As the Foothills School Division (FSD) support staff strike continues, some students may be learning outside the classroom.
A conditional exemption to Alberta's in-person learning requirement has been granted to the FSD board of trustees through a ministerial order signed by Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides on March 3.
Through the order, FSD has been exempted from the requirement to provide an option for in-person learning for each student in light of the ongoing CUPE Local 5040 strike, which has seen approximately 300 FSD education support workers out of schools and on picket lines across Foothills County since Feb. 24.
"Given the absence of a third of our staff due to labour action, the division continues to assess ongoing needs and to provide supports to foster safe learning environments," wrote FSD in a statement.
The ministerial order permits the school division to "meet its obligations to provide and deliver education programming while also fulfilling its responsibility to ensure each student and staff member is provided with a welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environment" through options outside of in-person learning.
The minister of education has the authority to exempt a school board from the requirement to provide an option for in-person learning for each student, subject to any terms and conditions the minister considers appropriate.
An initial request by FSD for an exemption to the in-person learning requirement had been denied on Feb. 22 in light of a Court of King’s Bench injunction blocking a similar exemption in Edmonton.
A lawsuit against the Province and Nicolaides claimed that a legal exemption for in-person learning requirements discriminates against students with disabilities by preventing those who require a support worker from attending school, prompting Nicolaides to direct school boards to strive to facilitate in-person learning.
According to CUPE Local 5040 president Carla Penhalagan, this latest ministerial order doesn't target students with disabilities but rather has the potential to impact all students.
"Unlike the previous orders that were struck down as discriminatory and unconstitutional for their prejudice against children with disabilities, this order can and will affect all children within our division," she said.
"They could tell one child, several children, entire classes, or entire schools not to come so they can spread the few remaining teachers to do the jobs of CUPE members," she continued.
FSD declined to confirm how many students and families have been or could be impacted.
"Schools, in collaboration with families, will make every reasonable effort to support in-person learning while balancing safety concerns and operational realities. As a result, in-person learning plans may look different for each student," wrote FSD in a statement.
Non-teacher career and technology instructors, data facilitators, educational assistants, learning commons facilitators, office administrators, secretaries and youth development coaches are among the FSD staff taking part in the strike.
In an open letter published by the Western Wheel, Penhalagan invited FSD to stand with Local 5040 against the provincial government, which is widely considered to have a "secret mandate" influencing wage negotiations behind closed doors.
"This is the government and the school division's solution to the situation they have created. Rather than pay the employees a livable wage, the cost of their underfunding of the education system is borne on the backs of children," she said.
