School board races hottest in years
From math instruction to school choice, issues in education have become incendiary
The secrecy surrounding the development of the curriculum is an Orwellian-sized concern for me. ORVILLE CHUBB
Edmonton school board elections are burning hotter than they have in many years.
The culture wars around various educational issues have exploded into the political realm. Debates rage on topics ranging from gay-straight alliances to the ideological slant of the professors writing our new school curriculum.
My own focus is on bolstering Alberta’s failing math education, maintaining high academic standards and pushing for transparency in the massive curriculum overhaul. To that end, I sent out a questionnaire. To date, 28 out of 42 board candidates have responded. There is widespread agreement that Alberta has a problem, with the number of math illiterate students doubling since we adopted a discovery math curriculum in 2008.
“We are slipping in mathematics and this is bad news for our children, who will have to compete in the global job market against other candidates who are stellar in math,” said Catholic board candidate Dan Posa, adding trustees can demand an analysis of what’s gone wrong and reverse the trend.
Public board candidate Yemi Philip said improving teacher education in math may be the key: “It is important for us to put a stop to the slip in our math education.”
The candidates were nearly unanimous in their support of Alberta’s system of provincial achievement exams, which I see as a key accountability measure.
“I agree provincial exams (and preferably those with written response portions) are necessary to meet the legitimate need for public accountability,” said candidate Michael Janz, who served as Edmonton public board chairperson.
In regards to the ongoing curriculum rewrite, the governing New Democrats have refused to release the names of the leading professors and consultants heading up the project.
My concern is that top subject experts in math, science and the humanities will be frozen out, and the rewrite will instead be dominated by like-minded professors and consultants who favour inquiry/discovery learning and/or who are guided by a pronounced and uniform sociopolitical agenda.
This is, after all, exactly what happened in 2005-07 when math professors were frozen out and discovery math consultants rewrote our math curriculum.
A number of trustees have similar concerns.
“The secrecy surrounding the development of the curriculum is an Orwellian-sized concern for me,” said public board candidate Orville Chubb. “It is a travesty to the democratic principle of transparency when those who head up the various areas of a new curriculum’s development are not willing or able to come forward, so that their records, assumptions and biases can be examined by the public, trustees or other leaders in education.”
“Public money is being spent on this, and taxpayers have the right to know who is receiving that money,” said Catholic board candidate Glen Argan. “Beyond that, the public has the right to know if the process is being loaded in one direction or another.”
I also asked the candidates about an allegation coming from an influential Alberta education lobby group, Support Our Students Alberta (SOS). It recently argued that there is a link between the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Va., and Edmonton’s own popular and widespread system of school choice.
School choice segregates students and causes division, SOS charged, then listed a number of alternative programs which they said represented “segregation disguised as choice,” including sports, ballet and hockey programs; numerous bilingual programs; Cogito, Montessori, international baccalaureate, Nellie McClung and Caraway academic programs; Logos and Christian schools; and the Victoria performing arts school.
Thankfully, our trustees were near unanimous in rejecting the wrong-headed SOS allegation and defending school choice.
“I believe strongly in the programs of choice model,” said public board candidate Bridget Stirling, who attended French immersion, academic challenge and Victoria School of the Arts programs. “I have also seen firsthand how these programs can help keep some of our students engaged and involved through to graduation.”
The SOS critique “is an extreme view not supported by the facts,” said Catholic board candidate Debbie Engel. “Here in Edmonton, we are not ‘segregating’; we are providing opportunities to students to pursue their passions with excellence.”
Of course, we all have our own strong views on education. If you share my views, which candidates will fight for them the hardest?
For the Catholic board, I endorse account executive Dan Posa in Ward 72, 19-year board veteran Debbie Engel in Ward 74 and former magazine editor Glen Argan in Ward 75.
For the public board, I endorse magazine publisher Orville Chubb in Ward C, lawyer Yemi Philip in Ward F and oilfield manager Thomas Deak in Ward A.