Last week, someone reached out to me with a tip that a school division in Lethbridge had given workers notice that they planned to layoff education support workers.
This person was a teacher in the public school division here in Lethbridge and said that these layoffs were in a different school division.
I managed to determine that these layoffs were to be in the Holy Spirit Catholic School Division.
Based out of Lethbridge, this school division oversees the operation of Catholic schools in Bow Island, Coaldale, Picture Butte, Pincher Creek, and Taber.
I recently obtained a copy of a letter sent to workers employed by the school division.
The letter signed by Chantel Axani, the division’s superintendent of schools, said that the school division was providing workers with 30 days notice that they intend to lay off workers should the teacher strike continue.
Assuming that the teachers do not call off their strike in time, the layoffs would take effect on November 7 and would apply to members of Local 1825 of the Canadian Union of Provincial Employees.
It would also apply to workers who do not belong to CUPE 1825 or the Alberta Teachers’ Association but “whose work is directly connected to students”, according to the letter.
CUPE 1825 members include a wide range of positions, such as administrative support, education assistants. library workers, child and youth care workers, behavioural education assistants, early learning assistants, receptionists, speech language assistant, career practitioner, early learning program leaders, and school accounting administrators.
The letter did not specify whether all workers would be affected by these layoffs, should they go through; however, it did indicate that anyone who is affected by the layoff should get their jobs back. Axani did not guarantee workers would be rehired in their old positions, only that “it is our full intent to” do so.
According to the letter, dated 8 October 2025, worker benefits through the Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan would continue throughout the layoff period, and workers may be able to ‘buy back the hours” for their pension through the Local Authorities Pension Plan.
Axani suggested in her letter that a 30-day layoff notice is generous, given that “some other divisions operate with shorter 2-week timelines”.
Demetrios Nicolaides, the province’s minister over education, posted on social media that support workers should not be laid off directly because of the teacher’s strike, that school boards are still receiving the funding that the provincial government has allocated for support staff salaries.
I’ve recently heard that some school boards are laying off support staff because of the teachers’ strike. That simply should not be happening. Aside from teacher salaries, school boards are still receiving every dollar they were promised at the start of the year. That means there’s enough funding to keep support staff working during this time. I want to be absolutely clear — I expect school boards to use the funding they’ve been given to keep support staff on the job.
If that is true, then it is unclear why this school division plans to layoff these workers.
In a statement released on the CUPE Alberta website, Local 1825 president, Joanne Lavkulich, warned of the instability such layoffs would bring to these workers and students.
This is about stability for everyone. We can’t risk our support staff being forced to find other work. Students need familiar faces to be there and welcome them back when the strike is over.
Raj Uppal, who was elected president of CUPE Alberta earlier this year, agreed with Lavkulich, calling such a move from Holy Spirit reckless and chaotic.
CUPE members stand shoulder to shoulder with teachers in calling for better funded, fairer schools. Laying off support staff in the middle of a strike is reckless and unnecessary. It will create chaos for students and families and further destabilize schools that are already under pressure. Holy Spirit needs to reverse course immediately.
CUPE Alberta is concerned that if these layoffs go through, they would be building on “a pattern at Holy Spirit where support staff have seen cuts in hours, work days, and positions over the last several years”, which have “pushed dedicated staff out of the profession”.
Here is a copy of the school division letter.
Update (16 October 2025): I have had several CUPE 1825 members reach out to me to say that Holy Spirit has rescinded their layoff notice since this article was published. One of them was able to provide me with a copy of the notice.
One reply on “Catholic school board threatens layoffs”
I can’t imagine anything would go wrong with laying off the cleaning and maintenance staff in a province with the highest rate of measles in North America, and a sudden up take in Covid, and RSV. Perhaps it’s all part of God’s plan.