Feb 282018
 

In the spring of 2015 my son was enrolled at Sir George Simpson school in St. Albert, and we had an email message sent to all parents about sex education classes that would be offered.   At the time, I was already aware of the issues with the Pregnancy Care Centre providing abstinence-only based sex ed classes, due to the stories out of Edmonton, where they were banned from presenting.  I immediately contacted the Principal of the school to express my concerns and to withdraw my consent from my son participating. I made it quite clear that I was not withdrawing consent because I was not willing to allow him a proper sex education, but rather that this was NOT a proper sex education and that instead I would be teaching him at home.

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 Posted by at 5:16 PM
Feb 252018
 


Unfortunately, we didn’t get our goal of 20 committed SEA members signed up for marching in the parade by the deadline, however,  we did get enough to man the booth for the day.  So, if you volunteered to help with the booth we’ll be in touch once our application is approved with more news on shifts you can sign up for.

If you will really miss marching, the Unitarian Church has extended an invitation to march alongside with them (they have an atheist community within their congregation).   Just let us know and we’ll pass on your info to them for their waiver forms.

 Posted by at 10:00 AM
Feb 242018
 

A big thank you to our board member Mark T, for organizing our volunteer night at the food bank, and to all of you that came to help out.  A two hour volunteer shift was easy and there is something for everyone, regardless of ability, to help with.  Age limit for volunteering on your own is 14 years old, but one to one adult/kid ratio is allowed for kids 10 and over, so this makes it a great opportunity for family groups to get involved.

After our volunteer shift was over there was some chatter about doing this every 2 months or so as a group, so if you are interested watch for another event in the near future.  In the meanwhile, you can also sign up to volunteer whenever you’d like by visiting their volunteer page.

 Posted by at 9:00 AM
Feb 232018
 

TUESDAY, April 10, 2018 will be this year’s SEA Annual General Meeting (AGM), formally starting at 7:00 pm, Edmonton Clinic Health Academy at the U of A, Room ECHA  1-498.  We will be there from 6:30pm onwards for anyone that requires a membership or needs to renew.  Please note this is the SECOND Tuesday of the month, one week later than we usually meet.

Anyone interested is invited to attend; however, only paying members will be permitted to vote in the general election or on any other business.

If you are at all interested in running for the Board, please take a look at our explanation of the roles and responsibilities for each position, as well as some FAQs about joining the Board. This year all Executive positions and four Director positions will be voted on. Please bear in mind in order to run for President you have to have served on the board for at least one year (throughout the history of the group), so if you intend on running for this position in the future it is worth thinking about joining the board.  In order to run for Treasurer you must have been a member in good standing for at least a year.   You can email us to let us know that you’d like to run for a Board position (even if you will not be present at the meeting), ask another member to nominate you at the appropriate point during the meeting, or you may also self-nominate at the meeting.

If you would like to run for any of the board positions we also encourage you to send in your ”campaign”…including goals for the group and what skills you feel you will bring to the table.  We will feature them on the website and facebook page prior to the AGM so people can make informed decisions regarding who they want to vote for.

If you would like to see 2017 BYLAWS, they can be found on the website, under “About”.
If you would like to propose changes for consideration at the AGM, they must be sent to the Board for distribution to the rest of the membership in advance of the meeting.  Please try to have those into us before April 2nd, one week before the meeting.

We hope to have a large turnout as we will also be discussing the direction of the SEA, what types of events you are interested in and fundraising ideas.  As per usual we will head to the pub afterwards for sustenance.   See you there!

Karen
President, SEA

 Posted by at 3:58 PM
Feb 082018
 

Show Your Support for Pride!

As a group we march each year to show our support for LGBT+ community!
This year the Pride Parade is on June 9th, and parade participants usually have to arrive around 11am.

Unfortunately,  last year we had a poor showing for marchers and volunteer booth workers. We have come to the decision that if we don’t have enough commitment for 2018 we won’t be able to participate in both.

In order to apply to march in the Pride Parade we need a minimum of 20 committed SEA members plus one person willing to be a Pride Marshall (which will require a separate training event to attend).

In order to apply for a booth at Pride we need a minimum of 10 committed SEA members as volunteers for the day and we need at least 2 people willing to work the booth WHILE the parade is happening if we want to do both.   Generally the booth opens at 9am and runs until the festivities end at 7pm.

Please contact us via email or through facebook messenger to show your support and commit yourself to helping SEA have a strong presence at Pride this year.

Deadline for your reply is February 22nd

 

 Posted by at 12:42 PM
Feb 052018
 

UPCOMING EVENT OF INTEREST, hosted by the Centre for Constitutional Studies:
Debate:  Alberta Should Have One Public School System, Not Two

chicago-public-schools-lead.jpgFor the Motion: 
David King 
F
ormer Minister of Education and Executive Director of the Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta

Against the Motion:
JK Donlevy 
Professor, University of Calgary Werklund School of Education 

 

 

Thursday, February 8, 2018 
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
TELUS Centre – Auditorium (Rm 150)
University of Alberta (87 Ave & 111 St)

 


Join us for a spirited debate on whether Alberta should change its dual school system of public and separate schools to one public school system. What are the constitutional considerations?

This event is free and open to the public.

Register Here (to help us estimate attendance) 

CCS logo (small).jpg

 Posted by at 11:15 AM