Education Minister Adriana LaGrange. (Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko

Education Minister: School boards can individually delay start of classes

Aug 21, 2020 | 2:25 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Government of Alberta is leaving it up to local school boards to decide whether they are ready to go by September 1 or not.

Earlier, the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) met with Education Minister Adriana LaGrange to discuss the concerns many teachers have with the school re-entry plan and to ask that the start of classes by delayed.

READ MORE: Alberta teachers call for delayed start to school year

School boards in Alberta are currently planning for September 1 to be the first day of classes.

LaGrange issued a statement Friday, saying that the re-entry plan, as written, “already provides school boards with the ability to delay or stagger school start dates should they decide that is in their local best interest.”

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She agreed to meet with the ATA in order to further engage with her partners in the education system and to have follow-up conversations.

“I have also had the chance to review all the planned re-entry dates for schools across the province, and I see that time is clearly available to allow teachers to prepare for re-entry before their students arrive.”

“I would like to reinforce that I continue to support school boards using this flexibility to adjust their plans if necessary in the coming days as they make preparations for a safe return to school.”

Prior to LaGrange’s statement, a protest was held in Lethbridge where attendees called for class sizes to be capped at 15 students to ensure proper physical distancing, that the 20,000 educational assistants that were laid off back in March be re-hired, and for additional funding to be allocated to support students with disabilities.

READ MORE: Lethbridge residents protest back-to-school plan

The statement from LaGrange did not address these concerns.