After much deliberation between parents and the school board, Edgewood Elementary School (EES) will be returning to a four-day week at the beginning of the 2016 fall term. When discussing the change with parents, opinions on the matter were all over the map.
“Lots of them wanted to go back to five days a week, some wanted four days, some wanted it split.” said Susan Paterson, principal at EES.
EES currently operates on a four- to five-day school week, which can be confusing.
“It’s tough to work hours of staff members, especially if they work so many hours per week,” said Paterson.
The school had previously done a four-day week, but if there was a PD day, or a statutory holiday, those four-day weeks would sometimes turn into two– or three-day weeks.
The new school week will work like this: Students will attend EES Monday through Thursday and will have Friday off. If there is a statutory holiday on a Monday, the school will go Tuesday to Friday. This ensures every week is a four-day week.
It will also help to reduce travelling days for teachers who live in the district. One staff member lives in Edgewood, but the rest have to travel to the school.
There are currently 18 students at EES. The school is divided into a primary section and an intermediate section. The primary group is made up of students from K-3, the intermediate group is Grades 4-6. Next year, the intermediate group will be Grades 4-7.
While the change will help reduce costs to the school, it will help increase the time families can spend together.
“What we’ve found is when it was every Friday off, a lot of the parents had arranged to do dance, or gymnastics, or take their kids swimming in Vernon, Lumby, etc.,” said Paterson. “This allows them a little more freedom to sign their kids up for other activities as well.”
The 2016 fall term begins on Sept. 6.
