Wednesday, February 27, 2013

NVSD School Calendar Survey

NorthVanPac encourages parents that have not yet responded to the school calendar survey to do so before March 3rd.

http://fluidsurveys.com/surveys/vee-n/school-calendar-survey-2013/

The survey offers parents an opportunity to comment on the different calendar options currently under consideration but also introduces a few items that may need clarification and we have tried to clarify some of the the details related to the survey questions below. Of most interest may be the questions about Teacher Collaboration Times as parents were aware that students would be dismissed rather than supervised during these times.

We hope this information helps parents to make an informed choice on their preferences with regard to the calendar options.

Winter Break

Question 3 refers to a "Winter Break" this refers to the break typically held at the end of the year spanning the 2 weeks of the Christmas and New Years holidays

Spring Break

Question 4 refers to the option of having a 2 week Spring Break, this break is typically around the end of March. In the past the break has been extended to two weeks when the Easter Break coincides but if this option is selected the default schedule would be to have a two week break in addition to the Easter holidays unless they coincide?

3 or 4 day Weekends

Question 5 asks respondents if they support having 3 and 4 day weekends. Agreeing to this option does not mean that all weekends will be extended. Support for this option indicates support for the potential of extension of statutory holidays (Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, Family day ) to form longer weekends for families. If this option is supported, the time for these days would need to be added to the calendar in other places such as extending the school day length, extending the year in July/August, or a combination of these two options.

Teacher Collaboration Times

Several questions ask about the use of teacher collaboration time to provide elementary teachers with an opportunity to work with each other to implement school wide plans. If supported, parents would be responsible for 45-60 minutes of childcare during teacher collaboration times as school would not be considered in session and students would not be supervised during those times. There are no specific plans at this time but the District recognizes the difficulties that this may create for some parents and so the District is considering limited childcare options for those families that absolutely need it.

The proposed calendars

The survey asks parents to review two potential calendars for next year. Schedule A includes 2 week breaks for both winter break and spring break but does not include teacher collaboration times for elementary students. Schedule B adds the proposed dates for the monthly elementary collaboration time in light blue. This may be hard to see on some screens but the 2nd option presented show one possible schedule for the introduction of elementary staff (P/VP, teachers, support staff) collaboration times and if adopted indicates the days on which parents would need to provide additional supervision time.

July and August schooling.

The survey asks about the option of adding July and August schooling to the calendar. These options are there to gauge interest in these options for future consideration. If they were to be adopted they would be accommodated by extending the school day, extending the year or a combination of the two.

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