LAKELAND - Northern Lights Public Schools (NLPS) is seeking input on its 2024-2025 Draft School Calendar. On Jan. 17, 2024, the calendar was approved in principle by the NLPS board of trustees. This basically means it is approved pending feedback from stakeholders.
It will be reviewed again at the end of February.
Nicole Garner, Communications and Public Relations Manager for Northern Lights Public Schools, said the school division is seeking input from all stakeholders, including students, staff, parents, and guardians, as well as members of the community.
As Garner explains, those who would like to provide input are invited to go to Engage NLPS where they can review the calendar.
“They can participate in the discussion forums where we ask two questions: What do you like about the 2024-2025 draft calendar? And What suggestions do you have for changes to the 2024-2025 draft calendar?” she said. “They can also submit any questions that they have about the calendar.”
According to information from the NLPS website, there are some significant differences between the proposed 2024-2025 school calendar and those from the previous few years.
Calendar changes include:
· The proposed calendar has two additional instructional days (180 compared to 178) and operational days (194 compared to 192).
· The professional development day that was scheduled prior to school starting in previous years, has been shifted to later in the year.
· Students would start school on August 29th, providing staff and students with two days together prior to the Labour Day long weekend.
· In the proposed calendar, the end of Semester I now aligns with the end of provincial diploma exams, eliminating instructional days for high school students that were previously scheduled following the exams. The proposed end of Semester I is January 28th, with Semester II starting on January 29th.
· The proposed calendar includes a Spring Break at the end of March, instead of a break that aligns with Easter. Students and staff would still get a four-day long weekend at Easter.
A committee comprised of a member of the NLPS teaching staff, two school administrators, members of the division’s Peoples Services team as well as the president of the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) developed the calendar.
Such parameters as the impact inclement weather has had on recent calendars, student achievement, student mental health and wellness, as well as the pace of the calendar were considered during the developmental stage.
According to Garner, inclement weather can impact instructional time. This means if classes are cancelled, there is no instruction.
“If buses are cancelled and there are large numbers of students absent, teachers have to adjust what they are teaching those days or may need to review it again when students who were absent return,” she stated.
Regarding student achievement, Garner continued, the goal is to have teachers in classrooms with students as much as possible. One example of how that relates to the calendar is having professional development days for all staff instead of pulling individual teachers or groups of teachers out of class at different times of the year for professional development and having substitutes on those days.
Student mental health and wellness, she said, is related to the pace of the calendar. This includes things like providing breaks throughout the year.
“In this calendar, we have received feedback from students, staff, and parents that many wanted a March break because they notice that's when students seem to need a break from school.”
The forum will be open from Jan. 22nd - Feb. 4th. Garner said once the feedback has closed, school administration and the board of trustees will review the feedback that was received and determine if any changes will be made before final approval is granted.
“Once a calendar has been approved, it will be shared with all stakeholders,” she said.
Other school divisions across the Lakeland Region have also been reviewing their school and drafting their school calendars.
School days across Lakeland
Chantel Axani, deputy superintendent for Lakeland Catholic School Division (LCSD), said the school division is currently reviewing over 170 responses it received to its online survey, which was conducted in December, 2023.
“Students, parents, staff, and stakeholders shared their feedback regarding what they would like our division to consider when drafting the 2024-25 school calendar,” Axani explained. “We appreciate the time the Lakeland Catholic community has taken to provide their comments, and look forward to sharing drafts of our 2024-25 Division Calendar in February."
Isabelle Poulin, treasurer for Conseil scolaire Centre-Est, said the Francophone school division is currently drafting its 2024-2025 calendar as well. She added that although this calendar is independent of those of other school divisions, officials do consider and align with neighboring school divisions when they can.
“When the draft is completed, it will be presented to the Board and then sent out to stakeholders for consultation,” Poulin explained. “Our total operational days for the current 23-24 calendar was 195 days.”
