The 2003-2004 school calendar was revised today to help make up for school days lost due to poor weather conditions this winter.
The professional development day which was scheduled for Tuesday, February 3 has been cancelled for elementary, consolidated and intermediate school teachers, and these schools will have regular classes February 3.
However, there will be no classes at high schools that day in order to provide teachers with time to prepare for the new high school semester which begins the following day.
Education Minister Mildred Dover advised that Department of Education and school board staff felt it prudent to make these revisions considering that school has had to be cancelled at least nine days this school year. “We fully support board decisions to cancel school when student safety is threatened. However, we are all concerned about the amount of time students have missed from school at this point in the year, and we feel we must now take this opportunity to make up for some of the lost instructional time,” said the minister. “Concern has also been expressed by some educators about the lost instructional time, and they believe that this is an appropriate decision in the circumstances.”
The school calendar is developed each March by the Department of Education according to the Prince Edward Island School Act. The regulations state that there will be 195 to197 school days each year, of which a maximum of ten days can be used for professional development or administrative purposes. “Professional development is extremely important. It is the way that schools improve teaching and learning,” said Minister Dover. “However, the exceptional number of days missed in a short time frame has caused us to cancel, for this year only, this scheduled professional development day.”
The Act and regulations provide school boards with the authority to cancel school for reasons such as poor weather conditions, operational problems or health and safety issues. The Minister of Education has the authority under the Act to revise the school calendar. Minister Dover indicated that the department will continue to monitor the situation as the year unfolds.