Dear editor,
For more than five decades ending in 2018, I had the privilege of teaching in public schools in B.C. and the Yukon, before serving teachers in both elected leadership positions and in developing and providing professional development activities for public schools teachers and principals.
I am appalled as I witness the United Conservative Party's willful dismantling and conscious destruction of Alberta’s public education system – a system that has been revered across this country and around the world. Through chronic under-funding of public schools (that are accessible to all students regardless of ability to pay and of diverse learning needs), through attacking the professional organization that has ensured the highest ethical and professional standards of all educators in the system, and through railroading the development and implementation of a ridiculously inferior and regressive curriculum, this government is blatantly determined to ensure Albertans feel the system is failing.
Through due diligence, the Alberta Teachers’ Association has maintained the highest standards of teacher conduct and professionalism and has ensured that all members – and therefore all students – benefit from truly collegial teaching and learning environments.
Terry Price
Cochrane
