Reviews of Alberta Teachers' Association (Dance School)

Allan Brown

I had particularly many issues with my daughter's teacher for grade 2 Ms. Boyd, and the ATA investigation process (it's better to say there was no my complaint's processing at the Alberta taxpayers' expenses ...). As per my point of view, the ATA is misleading the Alberta government and taxpayers by doing some useless activities; the ATA is using the kindness, generosity and hopes of many parents for a better future of our kids, and the ATA produces nothing, "zero" outcomes...at our taxes. Ms. Boyd’s authoritarian teaching style seems inappropriate for a class of seven-year-old children. My daughter frequently came home crying, reporting that Ms. Boyd had yelled at her or disciplined her. In particular, she explained that Ms. Boyd constantly screams at the children and forces them to sit still for long periods of time. In addition, Ms. Boyd gave K. a “C” in reading on her December report card and informed that Karina read at a Grade One level. Since K. achieved marks of “A” and B” in all of her Grade One subjects, I found it strange that her abilities had deteriorated rather than merely stagnated. As a result, I conducted INDEPENDENT TESTING BY SENIOR TEACHERS FROM A PRIVATE SCHOOL on K. to find that she successfully completed all of her Grade Two Level tests, thus suggesting that Ms. Boyd’s assessment system may contain flaws. Alternatively, the discrepancy between these two results may indicate poor teaching or even bias against certain students. When I came to the teacher's office to discuss all issues related to my daughter's performance and other issues; Ms. Boyd talked with me from the position of power, from up to down due to my foreign accent (I've been working overseas more than 20 years) and despite I am holding three different degrees (two from Canadian universities; one is an undergraduate, the second one is a Master's)... In addition, Ms. Boyd lacks the concern to attend promptly to classroom issues that arise. For instance, K. arrived home three separate times with lice; although the outbreak of lice cannot necessary be attributed to Ms. Boyd, the repeated occurrence of this disease suggests her inability to contain the spread or properly report it to authorities. K. also experienced an assault from another boy on the playground as testified by her bruises, and, when we spoke to Ms. Boyd, she neglected to address the matter further. Lastly, her lack of professionalism seems apparent by the fact that she spends classroom time messaging her friends rather than attending to the children as well as the fact that I suspected smelling alcohol on her breath on one occasion (her very often Monday's sickness seems quite suspicious too). I've written the complaint to ATA association regarding Ms.Boyd and met with the ATA investigator Keith Hadden; 11 months passed and nothing so far, silence... Provided two new reports from another school regarding my daughter's performance; my daughter got SEVEN EXCELLENT MARKS, TWO GOOD (compare with many biased "C" grades from the La Perle school)... Pick a school (with an unbiased and disinterested principal) and teachers carefully and keep control on teacher of your child. It takes me six months to bring my daughter to a reasonable level and she has started enjoying learning process at the different school again. It's our kids future and happiness!!!

Courtney Albrecht

Such lovely and helpful people!

Ham Pickle

Teachers make too much money. We need to see pay cuts. School fees thats part of our yearly taxes need to be dropped.

Kristy Stroud

Thank you for all you do.

Huy Luong

I absolutely despise the commercials for the ATA. Why do they feel the need to pay all this money to advertise anyways? What's is their agenda? They are teacher! So teach. You do not need to tell us how important teachers are to our kids. We know. So why advertise. Absolute waste of money.

Marc Dubuc

ATA is the strongest union on this planet.They recently added 2 stories to their headquarters.Their Bldg. Can withstand a direct hit by a nuclear bomb.They are the the most extreme secular humanist organization in human history and lift PCness to an almost perfected state. They learned from the world's PC masters,the education faculty of the UofA. The cafeteria is OK in a pinch.