Cellphone ban, high class sizes among new challenges for Calgary students

Thousands of Calgary students are headed back to school on Thursday for the first day of lessons, which could look a little different this year.

It's the first time students will be taught from a new curriculum that was released by the Alberta government last April.

Officials say 429 schools have signed up to pilot the new program, which aims to boost student engagement and make them into "active citizens."

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No phones in class

Another new concept this year is a ban on cellphones in classrooms.

Several school boards, including the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and Rocky View Schools (RVS), have released documents laying out the rules for when students are allowed to use mobile devices and penalties for what happens when they break them.

While the CBE says it will stick to its regular disciplinary action plan with students, RVS published its own document on Wednesday.

In it, RVS says its students are expected to keep their personal mobile devices turned off or silent and stored during class time except when it is allowed by teachers.

Any students who break the rules will first receive a verbal warning and reminded about the rules, but on the second incidence, they will have their device confiscated by the teacher to be returned at the end of the class and their parents will be informed.

On the third, RVS says the student must turn in their device to the office to be retrieved at the end of the day and the student's parents will be notified about the "repeated infractions."

A fourth incident will garner a one-week period where the child will not be able to bring their mobile device to school or will be instructed to bring it into the office at the beginning of the day and retrieve it by the end of the day.

"Further incident(s) may result in other actions as determined by the administration in consultation with parent/guardian in line with Administrative Procedure 350 – Student Code of Conduct," RVS said in its documentation.

School boards have until Jan. 1, 2025 to finalize their rules regarding the province's cellphone ban, but the prohibition is in effect from the first day of classes this year.

The Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) agrees that cellphones are a distraction and impacts student mental health, but its greater concern is a lack of funding for education.

"It's an issue that we’re going to see worsen than what we had last year as we saw class sizes grow especially in urban areas, like Calgary, but it's effecting all school across this province in terms of the class sizes," said ATA president Jason Schilling.

"The needs and composition of our classrooms have changed dramatically as well and there's a lack of resources and funding to meet our students needs and that's causing a lot of concerns."

Jammed classrooms

A CBE spokesperson confirmed in an email to CTV News that enrolment is up by around 8,000 students, and classrooms are crowded.

"Our official enrolment count happens by Sept. 30, but we project that we will welcome more than 146,000 students for the 2024-25 school year, up from 138,244 students last year," a CBE spokesperson said.

"Over the past two years, we have welcomed more than 13,000 additional students into our system – enough to fill about 22 elementary schools."

Steps being taken to address the swelling student population include adding staff, and a number of modular classrooms.

"In our 2024-25 budget, we planned for enrolment growth and allocated funds to hire more employees than the previous year, including 329 teachers, 273 more school staff, and 53 non-school staff. We budgeted for 11,279 full-time employees, more substitute teachers, and temporary staff," they said.

"On a school-by-school basis, we anticipate making staffing adjustments in the coming weeks in the fall as we gain a clearer understanding of enrolment counts.

"Additionally, we expect to add 47 new modular classrooms this school year, accommodating approximately 1,200 additional students.  We also received provincial funding to relocate 11 modular units from lower enrolment to schools with the greatest need for extra space."

Overflow

One school that has been over capacity for a while is Joane Cardinal-Schubert High School in Seton -- and that will continue throughout  the 2024-25 school year there and 34 other schools across Calgary.

"Joane Cardinal-Schubert High School is still over its capacity, and overflows are in place," the CBE said.

"We currently have 35 schools in overflow. You can find the list of schools here: Overflow Schools - Lottery - CBE.

"The CBE manages capacity in several ways, including overflows, re-designations, grade configuration changes, and, in rare cases, leasing."

Education minister statement

Late Thursday afternoon, CTV received the following statement from the office of education minister Demetrios Nicolaides.

"We are making record investments in education to accommodate this growth," Nicolaides said. "Over the next three years, more than $1.2 billion will be invested to address classroom complexity and enrollment growth, which will go directly to hiring over 3,000 more teachers and other educational staff.

"This upcoming school year we are injecting $1.5 billion into the education system to support students specialized learning needs across the province, this will help school authorities support give their students the time and attention they need to succeed by hiring more EA’s, specialists and expanding resources.

"Further to this, since 2019, we have committed to 108 school projects across the province to create more than 78,000 new and modernized spaces for students. Albertans elected our government to invest in the success of our provinces education system and we will do just that so generations to come can receive a world-class education."

 

(With files from Mason DePatie)