The following information was taken from the Government of Alberta website. Please visit https://www.alberta.ca/ for more information.
Overview
We recognize that labor action in schools will have a direct impact on students and parents. We are committed to minimizing disruption for families as much as possible.
Parents or guardians of children affected by labor action can access independent learning resources, explore available child care options and may be eligible for financial assistance.
Parent toolkit
To give families flexibility during the labor disruption, Alberta Education and Childcare has created a free toolkit that parents can use to help support their child’s independent learning during a teachers strike and schools closure. The toolkit provides weekly resources that follow the K to 12 curriculum. Resources are available in English, French and French Immersion.
The toolkit is an optional resource that supplements instruction by your child’s teachers or school board. If you have received a syllabus, course outline, textbook, workbooks, assignments or access codes for websites and software, consider using them as well.
Parent payment program
The parent portal to apply for the payment program is anticipated to open on October 14. Parents can begin applying for the payment at this time.
To help ease the extra costs families may face while children are home during labor action, we are introducing a parent payment program. This support will be available to parents and guardians of students aged 12 and under who attend a public, separate or francophone school affected by the disruption.
Eligible parents and guardians would receive $30 per child for each day of labor action. For a 5-day school week, this would equate to $150 per week, per child.
Payments will be retroactive to October 6 and will continue for the duration of the labor disruption. Payments will be delivered through e-transfer beginning on October 31.
Eligibility
To be eligible, the following criteria must be met:
Parent applications will be reviewed and validated to ensure eligibility criteria are met.
Note: Only one parent/guardian per child will be eligible for the parent payment program.
How to access the payments
The parent portal will be added to this page when it opens (anticipated October 14). More information available soon.
Child care subsidy
To ease the financial burden on families who require additional hours of child care during the strike, government will increase October subsidy rates for eligible children in grades1 to 6 who are attending licensed out-of-school care full time.
The temporary increase in subsidy will come into effect after five consecutive days of a strike and apply for all of October, regardless of the number of subsequent days labor action lasts. The rate of subsidy will increase to a maximum of $644 to align with the rates provided during summer months when children require full time care. Child care providers will continue to receive the subsidy and apply it to parent fees accordingly.
Child care programs are not required to offer extended hours of care during a teacher strike. Parents should check with providers to find out whether full-day care is available for their child during school closures.
Finding child care
Find information about licensed child care programs and family day home agencies with the Child Care Lookup tool.
Contact Child Care Connect to:
Call toll free: 1-844-644-5165
Out-of-school care
Out-of-school care programs can provide all-day child care for children under 13 years old when classes are not being offered. This means that in the event of a teacher strike, out-of-school care programs are free to extend their hours to provide full-time care for families.
Programs should contact their licensing officer if they have questions about extending their hours.
Family Programming
To provide further opportunities for continued learning, Alberta’s provincial heritage sites and museums are offering free admission for all Albertans aged 18 and under for the duration of the teachers’ strike.
Sites offering free admission include:
Parents and family members will still be required to pay admission fees. Guests 14 and under must be accompanied by an adult. Some museums will also be expanding hours. Families are encouraged to visit the website of each participating museum for details on hours and programming.
The Family Programming initiative will come into effect once labor action begins and will remain in place until labor action ends.
Distance education
To provide continued access to learning and offer students more flexibility, the 10-credit per year limit on non-primary distance education will be temporarily lifted. This will allow students in grades 10 to 12 to keep earning credits during a labor disruption, if they are interested in doing so. Students may enroll in distance learning with an independent school at any time during the strike, while remaining enrolled at their primary school authority.
At any time during labor action, students may enroll in distance learning with an independent school that offers this programming. This flexible program will apply for the rest of the fall term, allowing students to remain registered in their distance education courses when labor action ends.
Home education
Parents may also choose to enroll their child in a home education program with a supervising independent school. If a family chooses to do so, both the family and the supervising independent school will be eligible for up to 50 per cent of the home education grant for the first term, up to $450.50 per child.
Students enrolled in a home education program are not guaranteed to return to the same school they attended prior to making the change to home education. However, if a family decides to end a home education program, school authorities are required to accept returning resident grade 1 to 12 students and must place them in a school within the school authority.
Find local information
Your local school board is the best source of information about class cancellations and other impacts. Contact your local school authority directly.
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