Two new positions at the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) signal how the organization is adapting to support members in the everchanging and challenging landscape teachers are now facing.
The freshly created roles of coordinator, Government and associate coordinator, Teacher Employment Services (TES) have been filled by current staff Richard Svoboda and Myra Rybotycki, respectively. Both have worked for the ATA for several years and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to their new positions.
As the coordinator, Government, Svoboda will oversee the work of the Communications, Research, Language Services, Teacher Exchange, and Regulatory Affairs units. Svoboda’s focus right now is to become familiar with the areas he now manages.
“We have to have a global goal for the Government program area. There’s a lot of diversity in the different units,” he says.
After getting his teaching degree in 1990 from the University of Calgary, Svoboda began working with the Calgary Catholic School board, holding positions that covered everything from classroom teacher to principal. During this time, Svoboda attained his master’s in administration from Gonzaga University. Svoboda eventually moved to central office with Calgary Catholic, where he held the positions of supervisor of First Nations, Métis and Inuit, director of curriculum for Grades 7 to 12 and, finally, superintendent of Human Resources.
In 2020, he took a short break from the profession and two years later joined the ATA as an investigator/prosecutor for the Teacher Discipline unit. He transitioned into the role of a representing officer in the Regulatory Affairs unit, experience that will serve him well.
“Working in Regulatory Affairs sends you all across the province,” said Svoboda. “I think I’ll bring that breadth of perspective to the role of coordinator, Government.”
In her new role as associate coordinator, TES, Rybotycki will also lean heavily on what she has learned during her tenure at the ATA.
“I’ve been very lucky to have opportunities to develop my capacities in collective bargaining and labour relations,” said Rybotycki. “I also serve as the ATA’s pension expert and was recently nominated to represent the ATA on the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund board.”
Rybotycki graduated with her teaching degree from the University of Alberta in 1987. She spent the next 20 years as a classroom teacher with the Lakeland Catholic and Parkland school divisions. In 2018, she joined the ATA in Teacher Welfare, now known as TES. She holds a master’s of education in educational leadership from the University of Calgary and an advanced labour relations certificate from Queen’s University IRC.
She says, given that we’re now experiencing a particularly challenging bargaining environment in the public sector, her immediate focus is to provide support for the TES coordinator and the Central Table Bargaining Committee as they work through the bargaining process. She will support the work of the TES team to ensure their optimal level of service to the membership.
Since the roles Rybotycki and Svoboda will be taking on are new, there’s still a lot of room to shape them to the developing needs of the ATA and its membership.
“I plan to capitalize on the strengths of the ATA, foster good relationships and build community,” says Svoboda, “Those are the first things. I’m a big relationship guy.”
Svoboda will continue to work out of the ATA’s Southern Alberta Regional Office in Calgary but believes the challenges leading the Government team will be minimal.
“It’s tapping into all those subject-matter experts and getting them to work at their highest level. So, it’s more about the people than the place.”
Rybotycki also looks forward to taking on a new position, seeing the potential for adaptability and growth.
“I look forward to building the role and growing into the needs that will be expressed. I hope to be a support to teachers in Alberta and continue all of the work that is so vital and so important.”
