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Clearview board optimistic after meeting with minister

Even with just a few minutes to raise several issues, Clearview School Division officials were optimistic that the education minister

Even with just a few minutes to raise several issues, Clearview School Division officials were optimistic that the education minister might address their concerns and priorities.

“We are positive about him wanting to come out, so it gives us a feeling for him to know what we’re faced with,” Clearview board chairman Ken Checkel said after a meeting last Thursday with Education Minister Jeff Johnson.

During a Red Deer visit, Johnson spoke to school boards from central Alberta. Afterward, each division’s superintendent and secretary-treasurer were given five minutes to speak about local issues with the minister.

“These meetings are very important for him to get a pulse of what’s happening in education around the province,” Checkel said.

Clearview raised a variety of issues, such as funding for small schools with declining enrolment, the funding formula for co-operative busing arrangements, facilitating the development of facilities shared by schools and other groups, the provincial tripartite talks regarding a new teacher contract, and the new Education Act.

“We are experiencing a long-term enrolment decline, which will reduce our per-student funding, and that’s a challenge for us,” Checkel said.

As the Clearview public school system negotiates a bus transportation agreement with East Central Catholic School Division, rules for funding are under review.

“He seemed quite interested in that,” Checkel said of Johnson.

With plans to develop a new recreation facility in partnership with Clearview, the Town of Stettler and the County of Stettler, he said the minister also endorsed that project.

“It’s something we might look forward to in the future,” Checkel said.

A new provincial contract for teachers, which expired Aug. 31, and the new proposed Education Act were other common issues for Clearview and the minister.

“We want to have as highly-qualified level of teachers as we can,” Checkel said.

That would also include flexible roles and services, the chairman added.

The minister said he’s committed to consulting with school divisions and the community to help define the roles of teachers now and in the changing times ahead.

Checkel said he and the local board also endorse the new Education Act, “without any major changes.”