Allison McCaffrey

March 2022 Message

Welcome March!
​This month enters with many of us feeling the heavy weight of concern for families and friends caught in the conflict in Ukraine. With Canada being home to the world’s third-largest Ukrainian population, please continue to keep those involved close in your thoughts and prayers. If you want to help financially, the Red Cross continues to accept donations to support their relief work efforts. 
This week saw the Government of Alberta present their Throne Speech and Budget. Concerns remain regarding the unsupported implementation of the weak draft curriculum and the continued threat from the Ministry to break up our Association. We will continue to advocate for you and for fully funded public Catholic education. 
Please see below some of the highlights from the last CSR as well as the ways you can help to vocally advocate for our profession and our Association. 

ONE PROFESSION UNITED 
On December 9, 2021, Alberta’s Minister of Education announced a plan to a plan to remove professional regulatory functions related to discipline from the Alberta Teachers’ Association, effectively changing the ATA from a professional association to purely a trade union. The government continued these threats in the Throne Speech this week. If implemented, this decision will dramatically change the culture of the ATA, the teaching profession and public education in Alberta. 

What can you do? 

• Educate yourself on the issue - ATA Provincial has a thorough compilation of the issue, the background information and talking points about this matter. Go to www.teachers.ab.ca to access these documents. A brief overview can be viewed here.
• Contact your MLA - Write, call and request a meeting with your MLA and explain your concerns you don’t have to be perfect, just be persistent. Consider going with a group of teachers from your school so you have collegial support. Feel free to reach out to the Local for support and we are always happy to join you in your visit. 

Conference and Workshop Funding 
Please note that there remains significant funding available to attend conferences, workshops and for tuition funding. 

• Virtual and In-City Conferences/Workshops -  $500 + up to 2 sub days 
• In Province Conferences/Workshops – $1700 + up to 2 sub days 
• Out-of-Province and International Conferences/Workshops – $2000 + up to 2 sub days 
• Tuition - $500 for accredited courses 

You may apply for funding if you are within a 5-month window of your conference start date. Please visit www.atalocal55.ca/funding.html for guidelines and applications. 

Teachers’ Convention- February 17th and 18th
We had a great turnout to our virtual booth and many door prizes were won. Congratulations to Cindy Layzell, Lindsay Lupyczuk, Julia Davis, Erin Krysko, Serena Chappel, Vanessa MacKinnon, Sandra Galluci, Justine Merrit, and Laura DiGiacomo. Thank you as well to our ATA Local 55 colleagues Lisa Fulton, Leanne Van Horne, Lynn McEachern, and Paul Nickerson who worked tirelessly on the CCTCA Committee this past year to provide an incredible two days of professional learning at this world-class conference. 

New Teacher Induction 
It has been a couple of years since we have been able to gather to celebrate our newest teachers in the Local. If you have a new teacher on staff, please ask them to “save the date” of Thursday, May 19th, 2022 for our New Teacher Induction and Orientation evening. More details to follow as they are firmed up. 

Mentorship Meeting
This meeting, originally scheduled for March 3rd has been rescheduled to Thursday, April 7th.
 
Guest Teacher Appreciation Week  - March 14th – 18th, 2022.
This week provides a wonderful opportunity to say thank you to these amazing colleagues who support us throughout the year. If you have pictures of your school celebrating your guest teachers, please post them to @atalocal55 on our social media channels or email them to the local (info@ataloc55.ab.ca) so we can see the wonderful things happening. As was announced at CSR, the Local and District have jointly teamed up to offer $100 to 50 schools throughout Calgary Catholic to help fund your celebrations. If you would like to be considered, please complete this application form https://bit.ly/3Ix48BM. Registration closes March 2nd at 4:00 pm and successful schools will be notified by Friday, March 4th. 

#RedForEdAB Merchandise
We continue to sell our merchandise to make wearing #RedForEdAB on Fridays easier. If you would like to purchase simply go to https://bit.ly/3lqEsxf to place your order. Join your colleagues in donning your red apparel on Fridays and tagging @atalocal55 on our social media channels for your chance to win one of our weekly coffee cards. It’s so great to see so many of you showing your support for fully funded Catholic Education. 

CSR Highlights
Members asked if they could have a summary of the items discussed at the Council of School Representatives (CSR) meeting. You can access this document for the February 22, 2022 meeting by following this link: www.atalocal55.ca/csr-highlights.html 

In closing, please accept my sincerest thanks for the kindness you show to each other everyday. Your incredible dedication, compassion and love for your students and colleagues makes a difference and is seen and appreciated. We are always available at the Local should you wish to reach out. 

Peace and blessings, 

Allison McCaffrey
President
Calgary Catholic Teachers’ ATA Local 55

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