Last Call for Survey Responses

Northern Lights Public Schools is putting out the last call for parents and community members to fill out their calendar surveys. If you want your opinion heard, be sure to take some time and fill out the online survey; http://nlsd.ab.ca/view.php?action=object&id=14947&stream=Homepage%20News

“The responses we’ve received, so far, represent a good portion of our students,” Nicole Garner, Communications Officer with NLPS, says they’ve received over 600 responses, “we’re really pleased with the amount of feedback received; as well as, the thoughtfulness that people put into their responses. There’s a lot of really good suggestions and comments about different parts of the calendar.”

NLPS is looking at two different calendars, one that is more typical of what parents have seen in the past. Including Family Fridays, two-weeks at Christmas and a week at Easter. Then another design that would allow for a week in November and no Family Fridays in December or January to make up for those days.

Some things to note about both calendars:

1. School starts after Labour Day and ends on June 27th.
2. They include 180 instructional days. Northern Lights is committed to ensuring all school calendars have 180 instructional days moving forward.
3. They include Family Fridays. Northern Lights is committed to continuing to incorporate Family Fridays into its school calendars, but is open to shifting their locations or consolidating them to create longer breaks.
4. They do not include any half days or early dismissals for students. In previous years, students have attended for a half-day prior to Teachers Convention in February. That is now a “no school” day for students and a half day for staff.
5. Whenever possible, “no school days” have been aligned with the separate school system. The main exception is the Fall Break proposed in Draft B.

Ideas are also welcome, so if neither calendar appeals to you or your family, you can make suggestions on what you would like to see instead. It’s about making life better for the families and the community. “We’ve had a lot of suggestions on other modifications to the calendar,” says Garner. “It’s all good feedback to take in account, not just for this year, but as we develop future year calendars.”

The survey closes Friday, with the results being presented to the NLPS Board on February 28th. The Board will then discuss and make a decision on the calendar. The final calendar will be shared with parents shortly there after.