Alberta students hope for end to teachers' strike as classrooms remain empty

Many Alberta students ar sleeping in these years, struggling with the intuitive feeling they should be doing something else instead.

A provincewide teachers' walk out, most to enter its second week, has meant some 750,000 children haven't had to set their morning alarms, catch buses or pack lunches.

Declan Reid, 15, has been taking it day by day, seeing friends and attending an impromptu football camp organized by local coaches not affiliated with his Edmonton high school.

The freshman linebacker said having his team's games put on hold because of the strike isn't ideal, but he feels more sorry for older players who are over halfway through their final season.

"These last few weeks could be really beneficial to them," he said.

"Getting their tape out for colleges to look at, seeing if they get looked at.

"For me, I just always wanted to play football. It's kind of sad now."

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A second week out of school might look different, he said, as he plans to get back to his Grade 10 studies for at least a little while every day if the strike continues.

"Obviously you want to have some time off of school, but it's also kind of just like there's a void in your day," he said.

"I support what [teachers] are doing, but I just hope it doesn't go on for too long."

He's not the only one.

Adilee Verburg, a Grade 8 student in Red Deer, about 150 kilometres south of Edmonton, has mostly been hanging with friends and reading, but it might get old if the strike days keep piling up.

"There's not really much to do right now," said Adilee, whose mom is a teacher. "I kind of hope it's over.

"I kind of feel like if the government listened to the teachers, this whole thing wouldn't be happening right now and we would be back in school as usual."

The job action by 51,000 teachers is considered the largest walkout in provincial history.

The first formal bargaining meeting since the strike began Oct. 6 is set to take place Tuesday between the Alberta Teachers' Association and the government's bargaining team.

Finance Minister Nate Horner said last week the province had received a complex counter-offer from the union and it would be the subject of Tuesday's talks.

A previous government offer on the table, overwhelmingly voted down last month by teachers, featured a 12 per cent pay raise over four years and a promise to hire an additional 3,000 teachers to address overcrowded classrooms.

Premier Danielle Smith's government has repeatedly said the offer was fair and would address issues teachers have raised.

Union president Jason Schilling has said 3,000 more teachers are a drop in the bucket compared to what's needed, and that the number should be closer to 5,000.

Union spokesperson Heather Grant declined to provide details of the union's latest proposal. She said last week exchanging offers is an aspect of bargaining and the two sides are meeting to move forward.

For 10-year-old Sloane Laurence, a Grade 5 French immersion student in Red Deer, the strike happened just as she was starting to enjoy school for the first time, so she hasn't stopped studying.

She completed a map of Canada that she started in class just before the strike began and is gearing up to learn multiplication next week.

"That's one of the things that my teacher told us to do," Sloane said, adding with a chuckle that multiplication might be daunting, as she's only "kind of" good at math.

She's missing her friends and her teacher, whom she credits with making school something she doesn't dread.

"My teacher, he's actually really nice and really funny," she said.

"Every year before Grade 5, I've never wanted to go to school. But Grade 5 has actually been fun to me."

Red Deer student Lillie Fulton, 13, admitted she isn't the biggest fan of school and is enjoying the time off, but she doesn't want to be gone much longer.

"I kind of want to go back to school because it gets me up in the morning," she said.

Her five-year-old sister, Vylett, just started kindergarten and is worried about her teacher. She asks her mother every night what's going to happen.

Melissa Qerimi, a Grade 10 student at the Alberta School for the Deaf in Edmonton, wrote in an email that the first week of the strike was really stressful as she tried to catch up on assignments.

A possible second week out of school looks like more of the same, she said.

"I'll probably even start learning the next units or chapters in each of my subjects," Melissa said, adding she's feeling the stress of school work without teacher support.

"At the same time, I completely support the teachers — they have the right to strike," she said.

"They are some of the most hard-working people I've ever seen, and they deserve what they're asking for from the government."

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