For some time now , news & views staff and the Communications and Technology Committee have struggled with the problem of how best to acknowledge the deaths of ARTA members and teachers who have provided great service to Alberta . It is a problem that has several aspects that have led us to the format that you will find beginning in this issue .
In My Opinion
For some time now , news & views staff and the Communications and Technology Committee have struggled with the problem of how best to acknowledge the deaths of ARTA members and teachers who have provided great service to Alberta . It is a problem that has several aspects that have led us to the format that you will find beginning in this issue .
The first part of the problem is one I have addressed in a previous
‘‘ editorial , and that is that news & views has no direct access to information from , say , pension records , about who has passed away . Because of privacy laws in this province , that information is blocked to us . While such laws protect the privacy of families who might not want the death of a loved one made public , it leaves news & views in the awkward position of having to solicit the information directly from grieving families , from information sent to us from the branches , or directly from the obituaries published in local newspapers . Obviously , we often do not have information that is remotely complete . In addition , ARTA ’ s non-teacher membership such as CUPE members , who do not have the branch input that retired teachers have , is seldom represented .
The second part of the problem is that the information sent to us by members may contain either too much information or too little . Some time ago , we stopped reporting names of family members and causes and circumstances of deaths . Depending on the
A Difficult Choice by Robin Carson
We want to give the readers of our In Memoriam section the information they need to pause and remember , and we want to do so in a clear and gentle way .
nature of the information , we have tried to include community involvement of the person , as well as significant awards . As a result , the entries on the In Memoriam pages range from a brief line to several paragraphs .
After considerable discussion over the last year , we have decided to move to the model used by PostScript , the magazine for retired teachers in British Columbia . This is the format that you will find in this issue of news & views . We are aware that it is much briefer than our previous format , but the
‘‘ decision has nothing to do with saving space . Rather , we looked for a format that provides a respectful acknowledgement of a life well lived in the service of others , and a format that is equitable in its expression . We want to give the readers of our In Memoriam section the information they need to pause and remember , and we want to do so in a clear and gentle way .
We earnestly hope that our new format is viewed as we intend it , namely as an earnest acknowledgement that is free of the awkwardness and inequities that the truncated obituaries have often presented in the past . We must remember those people who have made such a great difference to so many , but it is terribly hard to do that with material that is so varied .
Please help us to present the names of those people you know who have retired as teachers or nurses or as members of ARTA ’ s other member organizations , and who have passed away . Please help us , too , with your comments about the new format . This has been a difficult decision to make , but is one we hope is sensible .
Winter 2013 9