Government change to standard school calendar gets mixed reaction
By Contributor
The British Columbia Liberal government introduced amendments to the School Act Thursday that will enhance the province’s education plan.
A change to the School Act getting most of the ink is the elimination of the Standard School Calendar to enable boards of education and education authorities to offer more creative scheduling options that better meet the needs of their students.
“Enabling greater flexibility and choice is a key component of BC’s Education Plan, and these amendments to the School Act will provide school districts with additional tools to support personalized learning,” said Education Minister George Abbott.
Abbot said the current 10-week break for students permitted them to work on their family’s farms and harvest crops during the summer months.
The revision would replace the current practice with a balanced school year that would include multi-week breaks about every quarter.
The present calendar will be eliminated starting Sept. 2013 and will give school districts and individual institutions the options to do whatever is best for their students.
This means school districts will not be forced to eliminate the standard school calendar or replace it with a balanced approach.
Much of the argument maintains that students lose their work ethic, knowledge of what they learned and any momentum they had in the closing months of the school year.
Another important amendment is to mix online and traditional classes for students between kindergarten and the graduating Grade 12.
Currently, only students from Grades 10 to 12 have this option.
The amendment would also allow school boards to introduce fees for international baccalaureate programs.
“These changes provide greater autonomy, flexibility and recognize school boards as partners in education,” said Laurae McNally, Chair of the Surrey Board of Education.
“Every school district has unique needs and challenges, and these amendments mean we’ll be able to provide greater flexibility and choice – and that means more options for students.”
BC Teachers Federation president Susan Lambert says studies she’s read have shown a positive and negative side to a balanced school calendar.
She urges school trustees to tread carefully and do their research before changing the calendar.
“It seems especially socio-economically deprived children do benefit from programs in the summer, and I think we ought to put programs in place for those children,” Lambert said.
“(But) I am very concerned about the impact on families of differentiated school calendars within a district.
“I know that there was a balanced calendar at an elementary school in Mission at one time, and parents fell away from the notion once they realized that one sibling had gone to secondary that that sibling was on a different calendar.”
