While the provincial government is scrapping the traditional scholastic calendar, it's too early to say whether year-round schooling will come to Burnaby.
"It's not even been a topic of discussion," said school board chair Larry Hayes.
On April 26, the Liberal government introduced a bill to change the School Act, allowing school boards to extend the school year over the course of 12 months. The bill doesn't force school districts to provide year-round schooling or change the number of instructional hours, it simply allows boards to change the schedule if they so chose.
"What this does is cut some red tape and make it easier for districts to go this route if it's something that there's a desire for," Hayes said. "It does have some interesting potential, but this is something that will certainly take a lot of consultation because there are so many parts to this web that it would affect."
Hayes said one thing that has been casually discussed is the possibility of changing the calendar for schools with more "needy learners."
"It might make some sense to adjust the calendar there, so it provides them with a better learning opportunity, but the jury is still out on a lot of this," he said.
The School Act changes also allow districts to offer online courses for all grades, instead of only grades 10 to 12. Education Minister George Abbott lauded the proposed amendments in a press release.
"These changes provide greater autonomy, flexibility and recognize school boards as partners in education," he said.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents school support staff, is opposing the changes.
"Boards already have the ability to modify the calendar. What they are doing is moving away from the setting of a provincial standard calendar," said Bill Pegler, CUPE's kindergarten to Grade 12 coordinator. "Right now, the ministry creates a standard provincial calendar, and boards make decisions on whether they want to deviate from that calendar."
Pegler said that in the union's experience, school boards are already financially strapped and tend to make decisions solely to save money. CUPE has concerns that vulnerable students with "school attachment problems" could suffer from those changes. The bill has yet to pass, but provided it does, the changes would take effect in 2013/14.
