By rdnewsNOW staff

Layoff plans announced

Chinook’s Edge keeping educational assistants until June 1

Apr 2, 2020 | 1:18 PM

Chinook’s Edge School Division says it is waiting until June 1 before laying off its educational assistants and hourly support staff following the temporary K-12 funding cut announced last weekend by the province.

The division also announced Thursday that it is extending employment time with bus drivers until April 14 to allow them some transition time. Work for the division’s substitute teachers and casual staff will resume as soon as the school division returns to its normal operations.

In a release, Chinook’s Edge says it will keep all of these staff on its roster and none of them will have to re-apply to get their jobs back when normal operations resume.

All Chinook’s Edge employees who currently have benefits will have 100 per cent of the benefit premiums paid by the division throughout their temporary layoff, the district says. As well, the necessary documentation required to access federal support through the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) or Employment Insurance (EI) is being expedited for all staff affected by the temporary layoffs.

Chinook’s Edge says they received specific information from the province on Wednesday that helped guide them in making these decisions.

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“In our school division relationships will always matter at every level, every single day,” said Superintendent Kurt Sacher. “Any adult who interacts directly or indirectly with a child has value and contributes greatly to our students and to our school division. We rely so heavily on every single one of our people to make a difference in the life of a child.”

On Saturday, Education Minister Adriana LaGrange said $128 million in K-12 funding is being cut province-wide and directed to Alberta’s COVID-19 pandemic response. For Chinook’s Edge this resulted in a loss of $2.2 million for May and June ($1.47 million from instruction and $756,000 from transportation).

Sacher says they appreciate the fact that the province allowed school districts to make their own local decisions regarding layoffs.

“We understand these are difficult fiscal times for the provincial government. We are grateful that the Minister of Education respects Board autonomy and allows us to make decisions in our school division that respect our context. We are very appreciative that we were able to make decisions moving forward that were in the best interest of our students and staff.”

The layoffs at Chinook’s Edge impacts 525 casual staff who are laid off as of now, 87 bus drivers effective April 14, and 456 EAs effective June 1.

Red Deer Public Schools announced on Wednesday that they won’t be laying off its 258 educational assistants until June 1.

Wild Rose School Division said Thursday it will be able to avoid any support staff layoffs or work reductions at this time.

(With file from media release)