School District 83 has launched a survey to gather information on upcoming school year calendar

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A survey has been launched to gather public opinion on the North Okanagan-Shuswap school district calendar for the upcoming school year.

School District 83 is collecting comments from the public to share with the board of education.

“Your thoughts and feedback will be provided to the board and help inform its decision regarding the adoption of the calendar,” said district officials.

There are a couple of significant changes from last year's calendar, including a re-introduction of a half day on the first day students return to school and a later winter break.

The school year begins with a full non-instruction in-service day on Sept. 5, for all employees. This will be followed by a return to a gradual start half day for students on Sept. 6, with the first full day of instruction being on Sept. 7. The in-service day will allow district staff to complete important work related to the strategic plan.

The half-day gradual start on the first day of school, after feedback from District staff last year, has been added back in.

“It was clear that it is needed to organize classes in the afternoon on that first day after meeting with these students in the morning,” district officials said.

Another proposed change for this year is beginning Winter Break a week later on Friday, Dec. 23, the last day of school will be Thursday, Dec. 22.

A later Winter Break aligns with neighbouring districts plans and is possible this year due to where Christmas Day lands in the calendar and the district’s collective agreement language with the North Okanagan-Shuswap Teachers’ Association.

The number of professional development days have been determined through provincial negotiation, and are not part of the local calendar process.

The proposed placement of these days, done in collaboration with the local teachers’ association (NOSTA) as per the language in the collective agreement, is part of the local calendar process.

As of November 2015, the new BC School Calendar Regulation has been in effect. It is different from the previous regulation in several ways, primarily it sets the number of hours of instruction rather than the number of days of instruction.

“You may also have noticed the additional non-instructional days and a subsequent reduction in instructional hours in recent years. These were negotiated provincially to assist with implementation of Ministry of Education New/Renewed Curriculum.”

Instructional time in schools with both elementary and secondary students will need to reflect the minimum hours for each age group. Schools with students in grades 7-12 will reflect the 8-12 requirements. Schools with other configurations (i.e. K-8) are finding local solutions, such as alternate recess and/or lunch bells.

Once a district calendar has been approved by the board of education, each school will work with their local stakeholders to establish their bell schedules in a manner with the framework of the BC Calendar Regulation and the NOSTA collective agreement.

The survey is available by clicking here.