There were red shirts, red-rimmed eyes – and a lot of questions — as more than 740,000 students returned to classes in Alberta on Wednesday after a provincewide teachers strike.
In Calgary, about two dozen parents and children cheered as teachers arrived at Colonel Walker elementary school following 16 days of missed instruction.
“We love teachers!” supporters yelled as teachers arrived. Many were wearing red shirts, the colour of support for teachers at recent rallies.
“Thank you teachers” was written in chalk on a sidewalk.
Some teachers were visibly moved, snapping photos and wiping away tears.
Schools reopened after Premier Danielle Smith’s government invoked the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to pass a bill earlier this week ordering the 51,000 teachers back to work at public, separate and francophone schools.
Smith has said the strike — the largest in Alberta history — was causing irreparable harm and that the government had no other choice.
“It feels good. I’m glad that they’re back in the classroom,” said Colin Mitchell, who dropped off his nine-year-old son, Bennett, at Colonel Walker school.
“It’s just too bad that it had to come to this. I think it’s kind of an elephant in the room still where the problem wasn’t necessarily dealt with fully.
“But hopefully that gets resolved soon, so all parties are happy.”
Bennett said he was glad to be going back to school after spending three weeks at home. “I’m so excited to see my teacher again,” he said.
Erin O’Dorn and her partner, Phil Grace, carried signs and said it was important to show appreciation to teachers.
“We wanted to let teachers know that we love them, that we support them and that we are eternally grateful for everything they did to stand up for public education here in Alberta,” said O’Dorn.
The couple has a daughter in Grade 2.
Grace said it’s been a difficult three weeks. “It wasn’t so hard on us as it was on the kids — the uncertainty,” said Grace.
“And trying to explain to them why they’re back in school and whether or not everything is fixed. It’s not. It’s still broken.”
Erin Stanten, who has a daughter in Grade 1, encouraged fellow parents to fill out a survey about their experiences during the strike so it can be presented at the legislature.
“My child missed her teacher this whole time. It was pretty heartbreaking,” said Stanten. “I’m excited to see the young students here today and to see the parents out and about.”
School boards advised parents that classes would to be up and running, but there might be delays and changes to everything from diploma exams to extracurricular activities.
In Edmonton, Grade 11 student Nyla Ahmadzai said she had mixed feelings about walking back into class at McNally School.
“I’m happy to be back, so I can show my teachers my support. But I’m not happy, because we’re coming back to the same thing (overcrowded classes),” said the 16-year-old.
She said her first class Wednesday — social studies — started off a little chaotic. With 37 students, she said she had to scramble to get a desk.
Students bombarded the teacher with questions about what was happening in the labour dispute, and what’s next, she said, often talking over one another.
“It was hard to hear her respond,” Ahmadzai said. “I felt this heavy burden, like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m back and I don’t like learning, because it’s so hard to learn in school.’”
The Alberta Teachers’ Association has said teachers won’t work to rule but called using the notwithstanding clause a gross violation of rights.