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b'The Alberta government has arguably missed an opportunity to show leadership during the COVID 19 crisis by directing provincial school boards to lay off tens of thousands of education workers. Teachers and educational assistants (EA\\u2019s) work closely together to facilitate student learning. EA\\u2019s were still being utilized to support students in need of accommodations along with those students with inadequate access to technology. \\n\\nThe Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) estimates that around 6,000 substitute teachers and up to 20,000 support staff are affected by the funding cut. The ATA stands in solidarity with the support staff affected by this decision. Even though the COVID 19 pandemic is an extraordinary life event, laying off tens of thousands of workers at this time is at best, a questionable direction by the provincial government. \\n\\nWhile the federal government has stepped up to protect people and the economy through a compassionate stop-gap program, that still leaves many at risk kids without the support needed to succeed. The speaker will explain the shortfalls many students are likely to experience during the currently mandated \\u201clearning at home\\u201d way of going to school, without the help of EA\\u2019s and support staff. The speaker will also explore the future impacts of this decision when schools prepare to reopen at a future date. \\n\\nSpeaker: Jason Schilling, President, The Alberta Teachers\\u2019 Association\\n\\nJason Schilling was elected president of the 45,000 member Alberta Teachers\\u2019 Association in 2019 following two years of service as vice-president and more than eight years of service as district representative for South West. Prior to his election as President of the ATA, Schilling was an English and drama teacher at Kate Andrews High School, in Coaldale, where he worked for the last 17 years. \\nSchilling\\u2019s assignments as president include chairing the CTF (Canadian Teachers\\u2019 Federation) Committee, serving as a member of the Strategic Planning Group and the Teacher Salary Qualifications Board, and acting as Provincial Executive Council liaison to the English Language Arts Council. He also represents the Association on the CTF Board of Directors.\\n\\nDate and time: Thursday, April 30, 2020 at 10 am\\n\\nYouTube Live link: https://youtu.be/iKljIIm6b10\\n\\nIn order to ask questions of our speaker in the chat feature of YouTube, you must have a YouTube account and be signed in. Please do so well ahead of the scheduled start time, so you\\u2019ll be ready. Go the YouTube Live link provided in this session flyer and on the top right of your browser click the \\u201csign in\\u201d button. If you have Google or Gmail accounts, they can be used to sign in. If you don\\u2019t, click \\u201cCreate Account\\u201d and follow along. Once you are signed in, you can return to the live stream and use the chat feature to ask your questions of the speaker. Remember you can only participate in the chat feature while we are livestreaming.'