My Story


Hello fellow Calgary parents.

My name is Jo.  I'm a mom, a bookkeeper, a baker, a compulsive Netflix watcher, a church-goer.  Never in my life did I think I'd be an activist for anything.  I'm an introvert, and this is hard.

I've spent the last couple of months wrestling with the Alberta governments 'Guidelines for Best Practices' document that was released in December.  My initial shock that such a document could make it through to actual printing was intense and caused a few sleepless nights (unheard of for me!). I've gone through thoughts of homeschooling, switching to Catholic school, buying a boat and living in the middle of the ocean, all to protect my little ones from having to deal with this hoopla.

I attended my very first school council meeting and spoke my mind.  I was angry that the powers in our school district kept figuratively patting me on the head and saying that I shouldn't worry,  nothing is going to change, but I couldn't figure out what to do about any of it.

I heard story after story about parents who tried contacting the school leaders, only to be told that they weren't interested in parental involvement, that the majority of parents don't love their kids (yes, a principal actually said this to a parent in a council meeting), that those of us concerned about the Guidelines are overreacting. Hateful. Bigots.  My own letters (I have a terrible fear of telephone conversations) to MLAs and trustees and principals were met with platitudes, when the recipients bothered to respond at all.

A mom who heard me speak up at the council meeting contacted me a month or so ago about a petition that was being organized to force the school board to involve parents in the drafting of the policies required by the Minister of Education.  She thought that, because I have a different circle of friends, I'd be an asset to the team collecting signatures.  I had finally found something I could do!!

The petition took over my life for a few weeks.  I drove all over the city gathering signatures.  I dragged my 4 year old around with me.  I left my family to deal with supper and bedtime without me a few nights.  To us, the time spent was worth it.  We ended up with 4800.  2800 more than required.  Not bad.

I'm learning that this fight is just starting.  There's so much we have to be concerned with when it comes to our children's education.  Stick with me and we'll try to wade through this one together.

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