Education Minister Adriana LaGrange is shown speaking at a media conference on May 6, 2020.

By Troy Gillard

LaGrange pens angry letter

Education Minister blasts school districts for not inviting MLAs to grad events

Jun 5, 2020 | 2:53 PM

Alberta’s Education Minister is being accused of bullying after criticizing school districts for not inviting MLAs to graduation events.

“It has come to my attention that some school divisions have not been allowing elected officials, notably Members of the Legislative Assembly, to participate in digital or alternative graduation ceremonies this year,” Adriana LaGrange wrote in a letter sent Thursday.

“It is my expectation that you will work diligently to meaningfully include your local elected officials, whether that be an MLA, MP or a local councillor,” she added. “Please remember these graduation ceremonies are about our children, not our political views.”

NDP Education Critic Sarah Hoffman says it’s up to schools to decide who they invite to graduation ceremonies, and that LaGrange is bullying schools who choose not to invite MLAs.

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“LaGrange has cut hundreds of millions of dollars out of school budgets, laid off more than 20,000 education workers, pushed hundreds of dollars of new fees onto parents, and taken away crucial support for students with special needs,” said Hoffman. “The minister continues to lie about these cuts. She made this political, and now she can see the results. If anything, this demonstrates how dishonest she has been in claiming that school boards support her cuts. They don’t.”

“Recently, our office has heard from multiple elected officials, including Members of the Legislative Assembly and Members of Parliament, who are facing barriers to attending graduations in the province, despite alternative ceremonies such as digital graduations and drive-through graduations being conducted,” LaGrange’s press secretary, Colin Aitchison, said in a statement. A long standing practice in our education system is to invite locally elected officials from all levels of government, regardless of political affiliation, to participate in graduation ceremonies, provide greetings and to provide scrolls and certificates of congratulations from their level of government to the graduating class. The letter was sent to simply remind school divisions that if they are hosting a graduation through an alternative means, there should be ways to accommodate attendance from local councillors, MLAs, or MPs.”

Hoffman added in her response that, “It is an honour and a privilege to be invited to these ceremonies, not something to be demanded by the minister using threats.”

Traditional grad ceremonies have been cancelled this spring due to the ban on large public gatherings during to the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools across the province are instead improvising creative ways to honour their Grade 12 graduates.

At Hunting Hills High School, staff visited students’ homes to drop off packages celebrating the occasion.

Staff at Lindsay Thurber lined up outside the school last weekend as graduates drove by to pick up their diplomas.

Staff at H.J. Cody High School in Sylvan Lake recently paraded through town to visit the homes of graduates to celebrate.