The Northern Lights Public Schools Board of Trustees has ratified a local memorandum of agreement with the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) and approved a new Terms of Employment for its support staff.
"We have always had a wonderful working relationship with our ATA Local staff and we are grateful that we could come to an agreements that recognizes the contributions of our teachers and help make the division a great place to work and learn," said Board Chair Karen Packard.
"Both the NLPS Board and Local 15's Negotiating Committees worked cooperatively to create an agreement that reflects the issues raised by teachers in the division," said ATA Local #15 President Kelly Murphy. "I'm pleased that we could reach an agreement that acknowledges the work of our teachers and maintains the strong working relationship between the division and ATA Local 15."
A provincial level agreement between the Teachers' Employer Bargaining Association (TEBA) and the ATA that covered the 2020-21 to 2023-24 school years was ratified in June 2022. That agreement dealt with salary adjustments as well as issues such as instructional and assignable time. Once that agreement was ratified, school boards entered into bargaining with their teachers to discuss local issues such as leaves, professional development, and other benefits.
Support staff, such as educational assistants, librarians, administrative assistants, student advocacy counsellors, and other staff who are not certificated teachers, are not covered under the ATA collective agreement. NLPS has a separate Terms of Employment that establishes the expectations for the division's support staff, including those that work in schools and division office, and outlines benefits such as leaves, salaries, pension and health benefits. Updating the terms of employment is a joint effort between the Board and administration with input from the division's support staff.
"We are grateful our work to update our Terms of Employment and our agreement with the ATA has concluded, and we can continue to work together to provide excellent service to our students," said Packard. "We are looking forward to continued collaboration with our staff, as well as students, parents and our communities as we review our division priorities over the next few months and discuss what we want the future to look like for NLPS."
