March 5, members of the Prairie South School Division (PSSD) calendar committee, will present what they have come to see as the best calendar year option for the PSSD in the 2013-2014 school year.
Darby Briggs, communication coordinator for the division, said because of some changes that have been passed down from the ministry level, a new calendar had to be configured.
Some of the changes facing both students and teachers in the coming year include; a minimum of 950 instructional hours, a start date no earlier than the day after Labour Day and a finish date no later than June 30.
“So with that in mind, we went into a fairly lengthy process trying to figure out how we could meet the minimum hours and work with the after Labour Day start.”
Briggs said it was important to the division to ensure it devised a calendar that worked for its students, teacher’s agreements and all the other contracts it has in place, which lead to the calendar committee.
She said for the first time in a couple of years now, the committee was made up of 35 individuals from all over the PSSD spectrum.
“Normally we have about 10 members, so there was definitely a lot of interest and our members included SCC (student community council) members, parents, teachers, principals, the Prairie South Teachers Association, administrative assistance and educational assistance, so everyone was represented during this process.”
To ensure those parents who where not apart of the committee also had a say, Briggs said a survey was sent out to all parents in the PSSD and the response was excellent.
With 65% of parents surveyed approving the committee’s “option B,” Briggs said that will be the option presented for approval on March 5.
