CBE cancels in-person parent/teacher interviews amid support staff strike

The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) has cancelled in-person parent/teacher conferences for the month of March due to the ongoing Canadian Union of Public Employees’ (CUPE) support workers strike.

In a note to families, the CBE says the conferences have been moved online so replacement workers can do their jobs.

CUPE Local 40 represents 800 striking custodial and maintenance workers at CBE schools. The workers went on strike on Feb. 24 joining nearly 6,000 other educational support staff across the province.

The board says any schools that have not yet scheduled the interviews will be booked online, while schools that were already scheduled will receive an email this week confirming the date and time.

There will be future communication to families in any schools with conferences scheduled after March.

CUPE says the board is making the change because it doesn’t want parents to see how messy schools currently are.

“The house is a mess, and they don’t want company,” says CUPE 40 president Clay Gordon in a statement. “And they have some scabs in the building that may be a little dodgy.”

“Rather than continue to cancel events in the school, wouldn’t it be better if the Alberta government just came to the bargaining table, gave workers a livable wage and ended the strike?”

The union is fighting for a wage increase, saying the average support staff person makes $34,500 and claiming many have gone a decade without a significant pay increase.

A group of students at Lord Beaverbrook High School in Calgary walked out on Thursday afternoon in support of the staff.

The Calgary Catholic board will continue with in-person parent-teacher meetings.