INNISFAIL - With the 2025-26 public school year getting underway Tuesday, Chinook’s Edge School Division officials are exploring contingency plans in preparation for possible labour action by the province’s teachers, says superintendent Ryan Sawula.
“We are still waiting to see if there will be a 72 hour notice,” Sawula told the Albertan. “We are working on contingency plans should we receive that 72 hours notice and then we will communicate with our families as soon as we receive that.
“It will be business as usual until we receive that official notice of any labour action.”
Asked what the CESD contingency plans entail, he said, “I think right now it is all in development, seeing what can be provided and evaluating what is available for staff and students.
“In the meantime, we are excited to get started and to see students on Tuesday (Sept. 2) and start our school year. I know all our staff are excited to see students on Tuesday.”
The Innisfail-headquartered CESD has 11,000 students in 40 schools across the region.
In a press release issued Friday, the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA), the union which represents 51,000 teachers, said the provincial government’s latest contact offer “does not recognize the important work teachers do in our public education system, especially when teachers have been dissected and undervalued for years.”
ATA president Jason Schilling said, “The government needs to do the right thing and pay teachers fairly for the work they do with the children who will be responsible for Alberta’s future.”
In a release on Friday, Minister of Education and Childcare Demetrios Nicolaides said,
In a joint release issued Friday, President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance Nate Horner and Minister of Education and Childcare Demetrios Nicolaides said “The union’s strategy and tactics have been exposed and called out. We cannot sit idle while the public, parents and students are manipulated into supporting a union that has shown its primary interest is in diverting supports away from the classroom to further drive up teacher compensation.”
An ATA strike authorization vote held in May received 99 per cent approval. The authorization requires 72 hours notice of a strike.
Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools (RDCRS) division provided the following statement to the Albertan: "While negotiations between the (ATA) and (TEBA) have broken off, we remain optimistic they will return to the table and a settlement is reached. We have had a great start to the year and hope that the school calendar continues, uninterrupted."
RDCRS includes schools in Olds and Innisfail.
Those schools welcomed students back on Thursday, Aug. 28 for the 2025-26 school year.
