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School starts Monday, SD51 posts message to parents

Contributor
By Contributor
September 20th, 2014

From School District 51’s Facebook page and website

Updated Sept 19

All Students in School District 51 will be open on Monday, September 22, 2014.
Monday will be a half day with students being dismissed at 11:30 a.m. Buses will run on the usual half-day schedule.

Posted Sept. 18

Dear Parents and Guardians:

Thank you for your patience during the recent labour dispute. It now appears that schools will be opening very soon.

The membership of the BC Teachers’ Federation will be reviewing the terms of the tentative agreement and holding a ratification vote today. All Boards of Education will vote as well.

If both parties vote to ratify the terms of the agreement, then we will be opening our schools on Monday, September 22nd. The first day of the school year will follow the normal opening day procedures with students attending for a half day. This will give schools the opportunity to conduct enrolment counts and adjust classes and staffing levels.

Buses will be picking students up at the regular times on Monday and dropping off on the usual half-day schedule.

The Ministry of Education has confirmed the following information with Superintendents:

  1. There are no plans to extend or add instructional days this year.
  2. For secondary courses operating on a semester system, school districts have the option to equalize the length of the semesters and the Ministry of Education will provide a new set of provincial examination dates at the beginning of February.

The impact of these Ministry decisions for the Boundary School District include:

  • No changes are being made to school calendars including holiday periods.
  • Report card timelines and parent-teacher interview dates may be adjusted. If this is the case you will be notified by your school.
  • Elementary schools will be contacting the parents of Kindergarten students with information about the plan for the ‘gradual entry’ of these students.
  • Secondary schools will be adjusting the dates for the end of the first and the beginning of the second semesters to balance instructional time and to align with the new examination dates in February, 2015.

Further updates will be provided as new information is available. In the meantime, please continue to consult the SD51 and school websites as well as Facebook pages.

Kevin Argue
Superintendent of Schools