Schilling returns as ATA president

Jason Schilling will continue as ATA president after being re-elected for a third term during the recent election of Provincial Executive Council (PEC). Schilling edged out current vice-president Jenny Regal for the top chair with 5,390 votes to Regal’s 2,335. 

Schilling said he’s looking forward to the next two years as president. 

“I’ve always valued the work that the Association does,” he said. “I wanted to continue the work that we’ve started in the last two terms.”

Schilling said the last couple of years have been very challenging for members. Throughout his campaign he has heard from teachers about curriculum, class size and composition, wages, inflation and bargaining issues. 

“I don’t work in a silo by myself. I work with a group of individuals as a team and we’ll approach those challenges head on,” he said. 

Schilling has spent more than 14 years on council and said he looks forward to continuing his efforts to make schools a better place for students and teachers. He said that listening plays an important role in the PEC discussions, and that he believes council needs to approach the current issues and conversations with an open mind, trying to understand where people are coming from. 

“We must work towards unifying people,” he said. “We have to look forward to the future and not get bogged down by rehashing the past.” 

One new VP

Greg Carabine will be returning for a second term as vice-president. One of the challenges he sees for PEC is improving member engagement. 

“We only had 50 per cent of teachers vote on the mediator’s recommendation,” Carabine said, “with a 50 per cent split with those that did vote.”

Joining Carabine as vice-president is former North West district representative Peter MacKay.

“As district representative I served as a liaison for the teachers of the North West. I communicated their views at the PEC table and I brought news from the provincial association to their local councils and committees,” said MacKay. “As a VP, my focus becomes the health of and effectiveness of the organization as a whole.”

Both MacKay and Carabine see communication and unity as key priorities for PEC. 

“We need to revitalize the connections between our school representatives, our locals, and PEC,” said MacKay. “This means that we need to focus on our communications and make ourselves a more agile and cohesive association, because we are going to need that agility and cohesion in the near future.”

District representatives

Council will feature five new district representatives. 

In the Edmonton McMurray district, incumbent Carmen Glossop will be joined by newcomers Greg Meeker and Jay Procktor. Meeker is principal at Grandview Heights School in Edmonton. Procktor works at Metro Continuing Education and is the division one representative for Local 37.

Calgary City sees the return of Darren Moroz and Kevin Kempt as district representatives. Joining them for her first term on council is Allison Scott Davies, who works at Our Lady of Peace Elementary and Junior High School in Calgary.

Another newcomer to council is Brice Unland, who will be the Central district representative. He teaches social studies at Ecole Secondaire Notre Dame High School in Red Deer.

Karen Nakaska returns in Calgary District and Paul Froese as DR for Edmonton District.

The remaining six representatives were acclaimed to their positions. They are: Brenton Baum (Central), Rhonda Kelly (North West), Rick Kremp (Central North), Murray Lalonde (Central East), Heather McCaig (South East) and Katherine Pritchard (South West).

This is Kelly’s first term with PEC. Having taught many different grade levels, she’s currently teaching Grade 6 in the Grande Prairie Roman Catholic Separate School Division. ❚

ABOUT PEC

The Provincial Executive Council (PEC) leads and transacts the business of the Alberta Teachers’ Association on behalf of its 40,000-plus members. PEC is made up of the Association’s five table officers (the president, two vice-presidents, the past president and the executive secretary), plus 15 district representatives.

The president and vice-presidents are elected by a provincewide vote of Association members. District representatives are elected by members in their geographic district. All elected positions are subject to two-year terms. Terms for elected members will begin July 1, 2023.