Yorkton's school divisions did not wait for the Province's announcement last week it was standardizing the school year to start planning. On December 31, 2012, the government told school boards it would be going ahead with the new regulations although no official announcement was made until January 23. Good Spirit School Division and Christ the Teacher Catholic Schools along with their respective local teachers' associations held meetings after the Christmas break to begin the work of adjusting the calendar for the 2013-2014 school year.
The new regulations set the school year at 950 instructional hours and mandate classes will start after the Labour Day weekend and wrap up before June 30.
Darrell Zaba, director of education for the Catholic division, said it will mean approximately 20 more hours of instruction time, or about 12 minutes a day for students.
At GSSD's regular meeting January 24, Dwayne Reeve, director of education, presented two options to trustees. Option 1 eliminates the traditional winter and Easter breaks for a single week off in March. Option 2 eliminates the winter break, but keeps the Easter holiday, which will run from April 18 to 25 in 2014. Both options include four-day weekends in February and at Easter.
Reeve told trustees that the details of how schools will incorporate the extra 12 minutes into the school day have yet be worked out and that there may be some flexibility on a school-by-school basis. Some options include adding two minutes to each period and shortening the lunch break.
Two things that are not on the table are eliminating professional development days for teachers or reducing class preparation time as those are entrenched in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
During the year-long consultation process, the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) also questioned the government's motives.
"What's the evidence that that will actually make a difference in terms of student learning and their experience in school," asked Gwen Dueck, general secretary of the STF.
Russ Marchuk, the minister of education, admitted there was no research to suggest more instruction time would work, but said there is no proof it won't work either.
Representatives of the local teachers' associations refused to comment saying they had been asked to refer media inquiries to the provincial organization.
Trustee Bob Simpson raised a concern over potential financial implications. Reeve said the Ministry of Education is confident the new regulations are within the scope of the collective bargaining agreement with teachers, but there was a chance there would be some increase in cost of support staff.
The divisions are now opening the discussion to the public. The two options were posted on both the GSSD and CTTCS websites Monday. Stakeholders can vote for one of the two options and/or make other suggestions and comments.
Reeve said the division is open to hearing not just from staff and parents, but the public at large because it could have an impact on people one wouldn't automatically think of. He used the example of a Karate teacher who currently schedules after-school lessons for 4:00 having to re-jig his schedule to accommodate a later dismissal time.
School boards have until May 1 to submit their completed calendars to the ministry.
One Yorkton group unconditionally behind the change to the new post-Labour Day start date is Tourism Yorkton. Randy Goulden, executive director said Yorkton worked with Tourism Saskatchewan to lobby the government for the change. Tourism-based businesses complained that sending kids back before the September holiday resulted in lost revenue and other problems for them.
"I think we're very pleased for our member operators," Goulden said.
