Public School Boards' Association of Alberta
The Public School Boards' Association of Alberta (PSBAA) is a not-for-profit society, the members of which can be any public or separate school jurisdiction, or First Nations Education Authority, 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. (That is, all citizens have a legal right and a moral responsibility to be involved in the government of the jurisdiction.)
Jurisdictions
Twenty-four of forty-two public school jurisdictions in Alberta belong to the Association as of December, 2020. These jurisdictions are:
- Aspen View Public Schools
- Buffalo Trail Public Schools
- Canadian Rockies Public Schools
- Edmonton Public Schools
- Fort McMurray Public School District
- Golden Hills School Division
- Grande Prairie Public School Division
- Grande Yellowhead Public School Division
- Grasslands Public Schools
- High Prairie School Division
- Medicine Hat Public School Division
- Northern Gateway Public Schools
- Northern Lights Public Schools
- The Northland School Division
- Parkland School Division
- Peace Wapiti Public School Division
- Prairie Land Public School Division
- Prairie Rose Public Schools
- Wetaskiwin Regional Public Schools
- Wild Rose School Division
- Wolf Creek Public Schools
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 (1989 - 1991) 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 (1991 - '92); Ms. Deb Poffenroth, of Foothills School Division (1992 - '94); Ms. Anita Dent, of Peace River School Division (1994 - '96); Mr. Dick Chamney, of Buffalo Trail School Division (1996 - '97); Mr. Clyde Blackburn, of Grande Prairie Public School District (1997 - '99); Mr. Don Fleming, of Edmonton Public School District (1999 ' 2000); Ms. Carolyn Kaiser, of Foothills School Division (2000 - '01); Ms. Joan Trettler, of St. Albert Protestant Separate School District (2001 - '05); Mr. Don Fleming, of Edmonton Public School District (2005 - '09); and Ms. Patty Dittrick, of Clearview School Division (2009 - the present).