A school with a four and a half day school week could be moving to a shortened school calendar.
The Board of Education for School District 27 agreed this week to direct staff to develop a consultation process for the consideration of Anahim Lake Elementary Junior Secondary to move to a four day school week.
“The staff have noticed that many students choose the half day Friday to make appointments out of the community and miss school,” Principal Dylan Walsh said in the request.
“This creates a challenging situation for teaching staff on determining how to teach new curriculum with many students absent.”
Research according to Walsh has found little evidence that a four-day school week compromises student academic achievement.
“There is also hopes that a four-day work week will be more attractive for our recruiting efforts,” he added.
“If staff have an extra day a week to travel into town for services it could help in attracting and retaining staff.”
Superintendent Mark Wintjes confirmed Alexis Creek Elementary / Secondary also has a four-and-a-half-day school week. He said schools with a four-day school week include Dog Creek Elementary -Junior Secondary and Naghtaneqed Elementary -Junior Secondary.
“Last year we had a request from Principal Walsh to consider the school for a four-day calendar and the discussion we had with him was that you need to have a fairly inclusive discussion with stakeholders and you also have to have engaging conversations with the Board if you’re willing to go down that road.”