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School year will not be cut in Howe Sound district

But board plans to continue to study modified calendar for future implementation The Howe Sound School Board has decided not to cut 20 days from the school year to boost funding.

But board plans to continue to study modified calendar for future implementation

The Howe Sound School Board has decided not to cut 20 days from the school year to boost funding.

The decision follows the collection of 1,113 surveys on the modified calendar, which found that 58 per cent of students, teachers, parents and others were in favour of cutting the school year from 197 days to 177.

"We did not feel that 58 per cent was a strong mandate," said school board superintendent Dr. Linda Rossler.

"We want a strong consensus that this is being done for good reasons and that it is educationally sound."

Rossler said the board has decided to study the concept of a modified school calendar for another year and consider putting a pilot project in place, perhaps in Whistler for the 2004-05 school year.

It also plans to examine the option of year round schooling.

That was welcome news to Howe Sound Teachers Association president Marjorie Reimer.

"I really appreciate the fact that they recognize that not enough consultation had been done," she said.

"Certainly this calendar change was never deemed to be driven by educational reasons, only financial, and they weren’t good financial reasons."

The board had already found the savings it needed to balance the budget when it went forward with the proposal to cut the 20 days, said Reimer.

And, she added, the suggestion by the board that the "extra" money created by cutting 20 days could have gone to reinstate library and counselling services may not be accurate.

"This money would not have been directed to counseling and librarians because we have school based budgeting," said Reimer.

"We talked to principals and we did not get a strong indication that the money would be headed in that direction. The money would have gone to things like paper, and the operating budget."

Reimer is encouraged that the board has pledged to engage in continuing consultation on these issues and others.

Rossler and the board also want to continue to study the results out of other districts that have adopted a modified calendar system.

"There have been districts in B.C. that have implemented this and have found good results in a one year period," said Rossler.

"But a one year period does not necessarily mean you have those results continuing over a longer period, so two years might give us more information.

"So the intent is to continue the conversation about modifying the school calendar.

Meanwhile he Ministry of Education released the results of this year’s satisfaction survey.

Generally more parents, students and school staff are satisfied with the B.C. education system this year than last.

But there are still concerns over school safety and the number of students who feel safe at school or are bullied, teased or picked on.

At Whistler Secondary 50 per cent of the students in Grade 7 were bullied, teased or picked on at least a few times, although 83 per cent of them felt safe at the school "many times" or all of the time.

Fifty-seven per cent of Grade 10 students were bullied teased or picked on at least a few times with 81 per cent feeling safe at school "many times" or all the time.

Only 24 per cent of Grade 12 students were bullied teased of picked on at least a few times with 86 per cent feeling safe "many time" or all of the time.

Rossler was not satisfied with these results.

"We had hoped to have 85 per cent of our students feel safe at school," she said, adding that reaching this level is part of the district's accountability contract.

"So that is one of the key areas we would like to look at."

Rossler said the board plans to study the results more closely and use the results along with other information to continue to improve student achievement.

Whistler Secondary Principal Ken Davies said the survey is useful as it gives staff advance warning in areas to consider in the future.

"It gives us a heads up of some of the things that maybe we were not looking at or concentrating on to consider for the future," he said.

"It gives us a heads up when talking about course planning, it gives us a heads up when talking about post-secondary education, or garnering flexibility on our timetable."

Davies plans to work on improving participation rates in the survey.

This year only 34 per cent of Grade 12 students did the survey, down from 54 per cent in 2002. And only 20 per cent of parents participated.

Participation for Grade 7 was 63 per cent — down 10 per cent from last year. Sixty seven per cent of Grade 10’s did the survey down from 76 per cent in 2002.

Provincially 60 per cent of Grade 12’s did the survey and 36 per cent of parents.

To see the results of the survey go to www.bced.gov.bc.ca/sat_survey/ .

The surveys were distributed to students in Grades 4, 7, 10 and 12 and their parents. They were distributed to gather opinions from students, parents and school staff on achievement, human and social development, and safety.