Public School Boards' Association of Alberta


The Public School Boards' Association of Alberta is a not-for-profit society, the members of which are school jurisdictions in Alberta, Canada. The membership criteria for the Association require a school jurisdiction, providing either public education or separate school education, to affirm two characteristics of public education: that it is inclusive as a matter of conviction and by design; and, that it is a deliberate model of a community and, by choice, primarily a model of a civil democratic community.
For the PSBAA, "inclusiveness" means that the school jurisdiction is inclusive of every child -- in the classroom, on the school grounds, etc. -- and also inclusive of all in the government of the jurisdiction.
Thirty-one of forty-one public school jurisdictions in Alberta belong to the Association : one of seventeen separate school jurisdictions in the province belong to the Association.

Jurisdictions

These jurisdictions are:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
The main activities of the Association are: advocacy for public school education; leadership development programs for school trustees, system administrators, school-based leaders, and citizen advocates for public school education; building and maintaining political relations with the provincial government and the provincial public service; and, research and the dissemination of findings significant to the improvement of public education.
The Association is host of the Public School Boards Council, a representative assembly for school jurisdictions in Alberta, at which assembly the jurisdictions speak about issues of concern to public school education, and do so without relying on the intermediary of a separate corporate entity.

History

The Public School Boards' Association of Alberta was founded in 1989, at a convention held in Edmonton, Alberta.
The first President was Mr. Dick Mather, a trustee of the Edmonton Public School District. Subsequently, the Presidents have been: Mr. Gordon Pearcy of Grande Prairie Public School District ; Ms. Deb Poffenroth, of Foothills School Division ; Ms. Anita Dent, of Peace River School Division ; Mr. Dick Chamney, of Buffalo Trail School Division ; Mr. Clyde Blackburn, of Grande Prairie Public School District ; Mr. Don Fleming, of Edmonton Public School District ; Ms. Carolyn Kaiser, of Foothills School Division ; Ms. Joan Trettler, of St. Albert Protestant Separate School District ; Mr. Don Fleming, of Edmonton Public School District ; and Ms. Patty Dittrick, of Clearview School Division.