The Chinook Calendar Committee has developed two calendar options for the 2015-2016 school year. This year ALL Chinook employees and parent stakeholders may vote for their preferred calendar for the 2015-2016 school year, and community members are welcome to vote as well. Our Division practice has always been for a committee to create calendar options for our parents and staff to consider. Typically we try to set our division calendar early so that families are able to plan in a proactive manner.
This year both of our calendar options will be posted online, and parents and staff may vote using Survey Monkey. Voting is open until Friday, December 12th at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ChinookCalendar.
The goal of this consultation process is to have a calendar recommended to the Chinook Board prior to this year’s Christmas break.
Defined Requirements
- The Saskatchewan Education Act requires the following:
- a minimum of 950 hours of instructional time per year;
- six weeks of summer vacation;
- post Labour Day student start time;
- a Christmas break that begins no later than Dec 23rd and ends not sooner than January 2nd; and
- a Spring break with no more than 5 consecutive days.
- Ministry of Education Provincial Examinations – January 26th-29th; June 23rd-26th
- Chinook Board of Education requires (3 professional learning community days; 2 student conference days; 3 professional development days; 3 admin days; and one convention day
Key Points
The Minister of Education has introduced legislation to amend The Education Act to allow the school year to begin prior to Labour Day when required. With a late Labour Day in 2015 (September 7), our calendar options have been developed with the amended legislation in mind.
Chinook parents and staff will have the opportunity to state their preference through an online survey.
The chosen calendar will need to be reviewed and approved by the board in late December and then approved by the Ministry of Education.
As in the past, schools will have the opportunity to work with their local school communities to determine specific student conference times and formats.
Calendar Options:
“Tornado” Calendar (197 days including non instructional days; 184 instructional days)
“Blizzard” Calendar (197 days including non instructional days; 184 instructional days)
The vote results will be gathered by the calendar committee who will make a recommendation to the Chinook Board of Education who will have final say on the calendar at the December Board of Education meeting.
