To cut costs by reducing the need fort as many substitute teachers the Foothills School Division has modified its 2011-12 school calendar in order to have as many professional development days as possible.
The board passed the modified calendar at its April 20 public meeting in High River and the proposal would eliminate four days from the 2010-11 calendars reducing the number of classroom days from 184 to 180 for high school students and from 182 to 178 for elementary school students.
Del Litke, assistant superintendent of schools for Foothills School Division (FSD), told the board students’ parents have indicated they want up-to-date trained teachers in front of their children. In essence, he said parents support professional development for teachers.
“They have told us highly-skilled staff is a priority and that training should be on-going,” Litke said.
At present, a large part of professional development for teachers is done during regular school hours. As a result, substitute teachers are being used to fill in. Putting a further financial burden on FSD is the fact a large part of professional development funding – including the cost of substitute teachers — was covered through the $980,000 Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) grant which was cut in half when the provincial budget was announced in February.
Having all professional development done on Fridays with schools closed would save the FSD about $400,000. The majority of savings would come from the cost of substitute teachers. There would also be savings on transportation.
However, Litke stressed professional development will not be every Friday.
He said there would not be professional development days prior to final exams, for example.
In total, the new 2011-12 calendar includes 13 professional development days for high school teachers and of those 10 are on Fridays. For elementary and junior high school teachers there are 15 professional development days and 12 will be held on Fridays.
Litke said the new calendar would meet the Province’s regulations of 475 classroom hours for Kindergarten, 950 hours for Grades 1 to 9 and 1,000 hours for high school.
To achieve the hours at the high school level, students would have to attend school until 3:30 p.m. when there is school on Friday. At present high school students get out of school at 2 p.m. on Fridays.
Denise Rose, FSD superintendent of schools, said the fact continuation of professional development is a top priority with stakeholders weighed heavily with the development of the new calendar.
“It’s clear by the research that the number one impact on student learning is the quality of the teacher in front of kids — number one,” Rose said. “If we believe that, then we have a responsibility that our teachers continue to train and be learners so they are at the top of their game.”
She said holding professional development on weekends, which is often done in the private sector, is not feasible in the teaching profession.
She said teachers are already putting in their own time on weekends for school related activities.
“We had a whole group of teachers at the Young Authors Conference (in High River on April 16),” she said. “Teachers are coaching on weekends for example. Their day doesn’t begin or end when the kids are in session… Their prep work is done not in front of kids.
“You have to be a teacher to appreciate the hours most of our staff puts in.”
Okotoks area trustee Laurie Copland said she is aware the new calendar could impact lower income families in regards to extra costs for daycare or babysitting.
She said administration has been directed to work with local municipalities in regards to providing recreational activities at libraries, arenas and other venues for children during those professional development days.
The new calendar has kept Easter, Christmas and teachers’ convention breaks the same as the previous calendar.
The calendar is currently being reviewed by the division’s lawyers in regards to the impact on other staff in the school community.
