NDP Education Critic Sarah Hoffman says Minister Adriana LaGrange needs to come clean about the province's COVID-19 response plan for schools (Photo taken from Facebook livestream)

By Sheldon Spackman

foip requests turn up empty

NDP calls on LaGrange to release records on COVID-19 plan for schools

Sep 15, 2020 | 4:42 PM

The NDP Official Opposition is calling on Education Minister Adriana LaGrange and her office to publicly release documents about the COVID-19 response in Alberta schools after a series of Freedom of Information Act requests revealed no records.

“We know that this Minister has received correspondence from teachers, school boards, superintendents and others on re-entry to schools,” NDP Education Critic Sarah Hoffman said on Tuesday.

“The fact that her office is claiming that none of these records exist means that she is deliberately hiding records from the people of this province. Fears are rising as we see more cases of COVID-19 linked to Alberta schools and the Minister must come clean and release these documents.”

The NDP says they received responses to Freedom of Information Act requests from the Office of the Minister of Education showing no records found for the following:

· All correspondence, letters and emails sent to the Office of the Minister from school boards and superintendents about the Government of Alberta’s K-12 school re-entry plan. For the date range of May 1, 2020 – July 27, 2020.

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· Emails sent by the Press Secretary, Chief of Staff, Ministerial Assistant, Minister, Deputy Minister and Chief of Staff to the Deputy Minister, mentioning reporters from CBC, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald and CTV relating to COVID-19 School re-entry. For the date range of June 1, 2020 – July 10, 2020.

· All communications and emails within the Office of the Minister discussing messages, emails, and letters received from school boards, superintendents and those identifying as teachers about the Government’s K-12 School Re-Entry Plan. For the date range of May 1, 2020 – July 27, 2020.

“What is this Government trying to hide from Albertans?” Hoffman asked. “The Minister needs to immediately release all records from her office related to the school relaunch so that students, staff, families and communities can evaluate whether the plan is actually working.”

Hoffman said Albertans deserve no less than the highest level of transparency and that LaGrange needs to stop hiding from the public and release all documents.

Colin Aitchison, LaGrange’s press secretary, says FOIP is managed by non-partisan public officials, not political staff.

“When a request comes through, political staff turn over any applicable documents in their possession, as required by law,” Aitchison said in a statement to rdnewsNOW. “Non-partisan public servants then compile, process, and release the documents to the applicant. My understanding is that an official from Service Alberta intends to issue a statement regarding these specific applications.”