By Shaun Penner

Draft K-6 Curriculum

Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools opts not to pilot draft K-6 curriculum

Apr 27, 2021 | 11:56 AM

The Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools will not be piloting the new draft Grade K-6 curriculum in any of its schools next year, a decision made by the Board of Trustees at Monday’s meeting.

The board voted in favour of opting out of the pilot program, becoming yet another division in the Peace Region deciding not to take part in the pilot.

Board chair Michael Ouelette says there was much discussion following a thorough presentation from administration of the 600-plus page curriculum’s material. From that, he says the board was not convinced piloting the curriculum was the right decision.

“You know, there are so many things in it. There is the First Nations issue that really caught us,” said Ouelette, citing a lack of education on the topic within younger grades. “Just some of the content in the curriculum, we were not happy with what was in it for teaching our children.

“And this is going to be taught to our children for years and years to come.”

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Since the draft curriculum was revealed in late March, many teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders from across the province have spoken out against it. That includes the Alberta Teachers’ Association, who has called for all work on the current draft curriculum to be halted, while also asking for more consultation with teachers.

Ouelette says he does not recall having this much engagement from parents and families on any issue for as long as he has served on the board.

“As elected officials, that’s who we represent. There were more emails and calls than I have ever received on any other subject,” said Ouelette.

“Parents were definitely concerned about this and concerned for their children.”

He says with the growing number of school authorities, including the Calgary and Edmonton Public School boards opting not to pilot the curriculum, one of the only options is for the province to fully reopen consultations, while allowing more input from school boards and parents prior to any curriculum being drafted.

But Ouelette says the main group who needs to be consulted is teachers.

“They are the frontline, they’re the ones to teach this, and to just get their opinion,” said Ouelette. “They’re in front of these kids. They know more so than anyone what a Grade 1 student could handle, what a Grade 2 student could handle.”

The Peace River School Division, Holy Family Catholic Regional Division and the Conseil scolaire du Nord-Ouest are other divisions in the Peace Region who will not be taking part in the pilot program.

The boards for both the Grande Prairie Public School Division and Peace Wapiti Public School Division will be discussing whether to go forward with the pilot program next year or not at their meetings later this week.