‘Broken, defeated, angry’: Teachers respond to Alberta’s back-to-work order

Stephanie and Jeremy LaRose are both teachers in Edmonton. (CTV News Edmonton/Connor Hogg)

While they are excited to see their students Wednesday morning, two Edmonton teachers say they are broken, defeated and angry after the province ordered them back to work using the notwithstanding clause.

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“We want to be in our classrooms, we do want to be there with our kids,” said high school social studies teacher Jeremy LaRose. “But it’s tough … It seems like what ended up happening is we went out of our way to try and address their needs in learning and ended up with us losing our rights.”

Jeremy said he and his spouse, Grade 2 teacher Stephanie LaRose, gave up their livelihoods to get support for classrooms.

“We fought for three-and-a-half weeks to make this better and it’s not going to be,” he said.

More than 51,000 teachers will be joined by some 750,000 students Wednesday after the Back to School Act was passed in the early hours of Tuesday.

Although Monday night came as a devastation to many teachers, Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) president Jason Schilling said he was proud of his colleagues and their fight for better teaching conditions.

“Teachers have found their voices,” he said during a press conference Tuesday. “They have inspired people across the province of what it means to be an advocate for something you believe in, and I am so proud of my colleagues across this province.”

And even though some teachers’ hearts are heavy, Schilling said he is confident they will continue to support their students.

“We will be there with a smile on as much as we are disheartened and we are defeated,” said Stephanie. “But we will stand there, we will smile … and show them love and support and how much we value them.

“We will do what’s best for kids returning tomorrow.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg