Local #38 Establishing Preferred Futures

The preferred futures document began its gestation at the Executive retreat on the weekend of September 16 to 18, 2005. Every year the Executive gets together to plan for the upcoming year. This year we determined that setting longer range goals was preferable, taking our cue from the provincial ATA which had just released its preferred futures document.

After a weekend of developing our vision of the future, Executive produced nine vision statements we call preferred futures. This document was then brought before the Council of School Representatives for feedback at the orientation session on September 21.

The representatives were given the opportunity to comment generally on all the futures, with each table being asked to provide more in depth response to one future. The richness of the data is still being digested with a revised document to go before CSR early in the new year.

In the meantime, the preferred futures and some of the feedback from CSR were brought to a meeting of members of Local #38 standing committees and the Executive. Members from the Finance, Scholarship, Economic Policy, Communications, Professional Development, Hospitality, Political Action and Resolutions Committees met with Executive to develop action initiatives aimed at moving us toward the preferred futures.

The reaction of those attending both the CSR and the Committees meeting was very positive. Having all those minds engaged on the direction our Local should take in the next few years was a powerful experience.

Table Officers of the Local now have the task of developing a final document to bring before the CSR in either January or February.


Have a comment about this article? Want to write a letter to the editor or maybe an article yourself? Contact ataglance@ata38.ab.ca to find out more.

© December 2005, ATA Local #38 Calgary Public Teachers