The Newsy Neighbbour Magazine
August Issue 118
Article Provided By:Leela Sharon Aheer
Hello Newsy Neighbour Readers! I cannot
believe it is already August. I cannot recall, since I had children, a summer
with more jugs of iced tea, blue Gatorade and popsicles. This beautiful weather
sure brings out all the fun summer beverages and combine that with many a
scorched hot dog, dripping ketchup and bags of potato chips and you pretty much
have the perfect summer.
Another Langdon Days has come and gone! Another
big success, as people have come to expect. We had a great time in the parade
before Yours Truly had to go to Red Deer. Why is it successful? Volunteers! We
would like to start off this article by saluting our volunteers. Volunteers
provide so many things to our communities, and moreover are the lifeblood of
the way a community changes and evolves because of the vested interest these
folks have in the communities they live in, or the associations they volunteer
for. We end up teaching our children to become better citizens, it provides us
with purpose, we make some of the best friends of our lives, and it brings us
into the centre of our communities. This is an investment into our community.
Langdon has a mighty group of volunteers, and it has been our distinct pleasure
to work with many of you and to see you grow your community. A few special
shout-outs are in order:
Bob Thomson (adult) and Tara Hofer
(youth), 2017 Langdon Volunteers of The Year. Thanks to Dimitri Voyevoda for
donating the beautiful pictures.
Sarah Dunphy, Parade Coordinator. What a
great job.
And especially the inimitable Chrissy
Craig, who has been awarded the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers by the
Governor General, a huge and well-deserved honour. Chrissy is everywhere in
Langdon volunteering and making Langdon a better place to live. A comment about
Chrissy: “To me, she is Miss Langdon”.
Thanks to Lisa Baker, another great
volunteer, for inviting my assistant Pete to present the Volunteer of the Year
Awards and announce Chrissy’s honour in my absence.
I would like to also thank everyone who
voted in the Unity Vote last week, and started all of us on a new journey to
bring the conservative family back together. It was such an honour and a
privilege to see so many people volunteering, working the phones and helping to
make sure this vote happened. This was a choice of the grassroots, and you came
out with a force.
As we are starting to think about going
back to school (Yikes!), there are some very important issues on the docket. It’s
time to start thinking about the upcoming election in October for your School
Trustee. This is so important, and with all the changes in education brought
forth by this government, it is imperative that this person represents you
well. We have many issues with the lack of clarity in the curriculum redesign,
testing, and transportation.
Please make sure you check out the Alberta School Boards Association
website at asba.ab.ca to understand the role and responsibilities of your
trustee.
"In Alberta, citizens elect school
boards to act for the legislature in their local schools and communities.
School boards exist because of the belief that government – and decisions
– made closest to the people being governed are the most effective.”
Another interesting facet of what is going
on in our education system is that right now we are governed by the School Act.
The School Act sets out the goals, roles and responsibilities of
Alberta’s Early Childhood Services to Grade 12 (ECS-12) education system.
This is supposed to be replaced by the
Alberta Education Act, which has been put on hold this last year and
may continue to be upheld by this government. The Education Act was passed
in 2012 after consulting 20,000 Albertans and has yet to be proclaimed by
this government or previous governments. It is supposed to replace the School Act
from 1988, which we are still using presently. For a very good understanding of
the Education Act, please read:
One of the most important parts of this
act is that - “the act is supposed to give teachers more freedom in how
they instruct, and make parents, teachers and students equal partners in
education”. It is vital that your Trustee understands this and is willing to
lobby on behalf of his or her constituents.
The most frustrating part of this is that
the desire of this government to hold up the enacting of the Education Act
may have some merit. It could, but because this government
does absolutely nothing to communicate with you or I, which is
disrespectful, we have no idea as to why the government is waiting, and believe
me I hear from principals and teachers about this all the time. The government
is pandering to one or two groups who have issues, and instead of actually
speaking with all the school authorities we are, as usual, left in the
dark, wondering how the “nanny state” is going to decide what is best for
us. This information is critical and I encourage every parent to
spend a few moments looking at this and then advocate on behalf of your
children.
I was honoured to be your Wildrose MLA,
and am so honoured to now be your United Conservative MLA. As always, we love
to hear from you.
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