An Open Letter to the Edmonton Journal

A lady in our local homeschooling wrote this letter to the Edmonton Journal, media sponsor for the Alberta Ballet. Please send in your own letters of support so that their Alberta Ballet’s many sponsors become aware of this unfair treatment.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to you because The Edmonton Journal is one of the media sponsors of the Alberta Ballet. The Alberta Ballet offers each year “Discover Dance, a Community Outreach Program designed for students and teachers to view culture in a new way.”

This year, Alberta Ballet has informed homeschool families that they are not allowed to purchase tickets to participate in this program unless they are grouped as schools do. This means that Homeschool children can only access the ballet if they are part of groups of 1 Adult per 10 children. Organizing such groups is very difficult to do as homeschool families are independent small “schools” on themselves.

Organizing a group that meets the Alberta Ballet requirements may mean that most homeschool children would have to participate in this program with a stranger, instead of their parent (teacher). School Children are allowed to attend the same program with their teacher. As you can imagine, most families are sadly choosing to let this program pass this year instead of putting their children into a potentially unsafe/uncomfortable situation.

School teachers know the children in their class and take responsibility for their care while participating in a program like this. Just like parents do. Homeschool kids should have the right to access the Discover Dance program with someone they know, trust and cares for them: their parent.

The Alberta Ballet Marketing and Customer Service wrote to me “… we got in some trouble with funders because this program, very popular with homeschoolers, filled the house with parents..” Isn’t this program for all students? Why is there a problem with its popularity among homeschoolers? Why does the Alberta Ballet thinks that school teachers have more right to take their class children to this program than a parent that is teaching their children at home?

I find very hard to believe that Alberta Ballet sponsors such as Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Nexen Inc., Enbridge, TD Bank, Esso, Husky, Lexus, Field Law and the Alberta Government would agree to put barriers to the access of any Alberta children to the Ballet company they support.

Please note that this is not a financial issue. Homeschool parents always pay for their tickets. Unlike school teachers who get free tickets for taking their classes to the Ballet.

Other Art institutions offer fair access to tickets to both School Teachers and Homeschool families. The Alberta Ballet should have the same fair policy. Have the Edmonton Journal, the Alberta Government and all the major corporate sponsors being informed that dozens of students cannot participate in this program because their teachers, their own parents, are not allowed to go with them?

If you can do anything to convince the Alberta Ballet to offer fair access to tickets, On behalf of all the little children who love ballet, Thank you very much!

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