Each year at about this time, RVS sets the calendar for the next school year. Involving parents, administrators, the ATA and trustees, the group makes a recommendation for the dates for holidays, professional days and the like. We start with a set of principles and then get to the specifics of days.
When we sit down, we do not have much time to think long-term; dreaming about a calendar that suits students and parents rather than just following the traditional thinking of the past hundred years.
What could it look like if we didn’t?
For the sake of argument let us assume the same length of school year, the semester system, end-of-semester exams, end-of-year exams, traditional holidays like Christmas and Easter, and post-secondary institutions will continue.
We could start by suggesting the half-year or semester end at Christmas rather than at the end of January. Those students who want to take extra time to travel, work, or get ready for post-secondary education would have the opportunity to start at mid-year.
Not only will the institutions of higher learning benefit from staggered enrolment but students would have more options with their own learning schedule.
Would younger students use the opportunities presented to pursue some dreams at an earlier age if they knew they could make up in a half year rather than a full one?
Immediate fallout of the above is a change in the start date of the school year.
The beginning of August becomes the start date but schools would end in May.
The USA has been doing this for years but it should be noted the number of school days is often less than what we have had in Alberta.
We could also stagger holidays throughout the school year. Ralph McCall School has had this kind of schedule for years.
What it does is spread holidays out so that the stress and monotony of long months without a major break is lessened.
Not only do students have a better mind-set when they return, so do their teachers.
This would mean our traditional two-month summer holiday would be shortened.
In many European countries it is six weeks rather than our eight or nine. The extra three weeks are then allotted at month-and-a-half intervals to provide opportunities to relax, reflect, assimilate what has been learned, and get ready for the next session.
Putting in these breaks when they will do most good could stimulate opportunities for parents to take advantage of holidays at non-traditional and cheaper times.
The Deputy Minister of Education when asked about such a proposal worried there were more serious matters to discuss.
A committee in Grande Prairie met but disbanded without any experimental proposal.
Assuming we get enough schools in Airdrie to allow parental/student choice, there is an opportunity to explore the costs and benefits of a system designed for those in it rather than just accepting what has gone on before.
Don Thomas is one of the Rocky View Schools trustees for Airdrie.
