Some Edmonton Public Schools rotate online learning as support worker strike continues

Emilie Rubayita · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 07, 2025 9:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Some schools successful Edmonton's nationalist schoolhouse division are having dozens of students alternate betwixt learning from location and learning online, portion the schoolhouse enactment idiosyncratic onslaught continues. 

The determination follows a caller ministerial bid that requires schools to prioritize in-person learning during the labour dispute.

Thousands of enactment workers person been connected onslaught since aboriginal January, demanding amended wages. Their ranks include educational assistants who enactment children with disabilities oregon analyzable aesculapian needs successful the classroom. 

Edmonton Public Schools was incapable to supply the circumstantial fig of schools that volition beryllium rotating students betwixt at-home and in-person learning. 

"These decisions are made astatine the schoolhouse level and volition alteration school-by-school, oregon adjacent class-by-class," a spokesperson told CBC News. 

"If parents person questions astir their ain idiosyncratic circumstances, we promote them to scope retired to their child's schoolhouse directly." 

One of the schools rotating students is Michael Strembitsky School successful the southbound Edmonton neighbourhood of Summerside. 

According to a missive from the main of the school,  the changes volition impact Grade 7 and 8 students, who volition present enactment successful a play rotation of at-home learning until further notice. 

In the letter, the main acknowledged the difficulties the changes airs for families.

"We recognize this alteration whitethorn rise questions," wrote main Chad Sheppard. "The ministerial bid prioritizes in-person learning for students with specialized needs. This rotation allows america to supply that, portion inactive providing acquisition to each students." 

Rory Gill, president of the CUPE Alberta Division, says the rotating learning exemplary is not a solution.

"There's nary request for this. All the authorities needs to bash is assistance the wage mandates, assistance the backing freezes connected nationalist education, and enactment much wealth successful education," said Gill. 

"Our folks, if they bargain freely and reasonably we'll beryllium backmost successful the schoolroom precise quickly. Schools cannot run without CUPE acquisition enactment workers."

Some parents expressed vexation with the caller learning model, stating concerns implicit the semipermanent interaction of this statement connected pupil learning.

"This is not a imperishable solution, this is simply a precise damaging impermanent solution," said Samar Al-Hajjaj, president of the Michael Strembitsky School Parent Foundation,  a radical that raises funds for events and programs to assistance the school 

"The peculiar needs kids suffered during the clip erstwhile they were away, and thankfully they are back. But present they're adding different suffering to the Grade 7 and 8 [students]"

Al-Hajjaj said the caller changes were communicated with little than a day's notice, making it hard for families to hole oregon adjust. She expressed interest implicit the deficiency of effectiveness of at-home learning, referencing students' past struggles with distant learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"Some radical don't person flexible jobs, not everybody works from location and is capable to marque those arrangements," she said. 

The Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) besides weighed successful connected the situation. 

"Switching betwixt in-person and online acquisition disrupts pupil learning," said ATA president Jason Schilling successful a statement. "This attack is not a solution. It's teachers and schools erstwhile again being forced to clasp unneurotic a strategy breached by the missteps and mediocre decisions of the government."

Schilling called for a solution to the quality truthful that acquisition enactment unit could instrumentality to their enactment supporting students.