Alberta Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides invited media to a roundtable on June 17 to discuss newly proposed age-appropriate book standards in schools.
A large range of topics were covered, from questions over how the standards would be implemented by school boards, whether schools that share a space with municipal public libraries could be subject to similar guidelines, and how the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) has been involved with the decision.
While there is a significant focus on ensuring that the guidelines focus on “underage minor” children, the new proposed guidelines would impact school libraries from kindergarten to grade twelve.
Currently, there are 55 schools that share a space with a municipal library, which would not be subject to the proposed guidelines. Those library spaces, despite giving access to students, are governed under the municipal branch.
Education Minister Nicolaides did say that the schools were a “uniquely challenging” area to navigate, and while he was open to speaking with newly sworn in Minister of Municipal Affairs, Dan Williams, that conversation has not been planned yet.
Throughout the roundtable, Nicolaides stressed that these guidelines were not focused on restricting access to these books or banning diverse material. Rather, he said that he wanted to focus on creating concise guidelines for school boards to align with.
Focusing on the “why” as opposed to the “how” was the way the Minister described the role the provincial government would play in ensuring that schools were in compliance. That means the onus is placed on districts to decide how they will comply, whether that be through partially or fully restricting access to the material or removing it entirely.
Currently, only four biographical graphic novels have been named as concerning. Nicolaides addressed that it would be “impossible” to count exactly how many inappropriate materials would be impacted by this decision. Additionally, he wasn't able to identify how solely text based media would be assessed within the new guidelines.
“Who knows how many books, titles, subjects there are and what they contain.” He said.
Nicolaides recognized that the coming-of-age material could be valuable for older children and teenagers, but he disagreed that sexually explicit content could add to that value.
The Minister also touched on what data was collected following the survey that gauged Albertans' concerns, thoughts, and perspectives on what the new rules could entail. Although an overview is not yet available due to concerns about the validity of the responses, he said that one will soon be available.
Nicolaides also briefly touched on a town hall he attended with early childcare education providers. He highlighted that wanted the meeting to as a “touch point” with providers as well as an opportunity to “meet and greet” providers in the community en masse.
Some topics of concern highlighted by early childcare educators were the changes with the childcare affordability grant. A big topic of conversation was also the renegotiating to the Alberta Canada wide early learning and childcare agreement.
Finally, Nicolaides said that dates had been set to further meet with the Alberta Teachers' Association, which overwhelmingly voted to strike following a strike vote June 5th through 8th.
The ATA issued a release on May 26 which stated that “decades of education underfunding” meant that school libraries are “rarely staffed” with certificated professional librarians or teacher librarians who can help develop guiding principles for the selection of materials.
While the new guidelines have not been officially implemented, they are expected to be in place for the upcoming 2025 school year.
