The Northern Lights Public Schools Board of Trustees would like to thank all of the parents, students, staff and members of our communities who provided feedback on the two draft 2018-2019 school calendars that were sent out for stakeholder input.
“The final calendar that was approved by the Board reflects the responses that we received and I hope everyone has seen the value in providing their feedback,” said Board Chair Arlene Hrynyk. “I urge everyone to continue to take advantage of the other opportunities we will provide for them to share their thoughts and assist us in our decision making process.”
The Board received a total of 633 submissions regarding the draft calendars. Approximately two-thirds of respondents expressed a preference for Draft A of the calendar, which was more closely aligned with previous calendars than Draft B, which featured a week-long break in November. Many stakeholders focused on the value of Family Fridays and spreading out “no school” days throughout the year, instead of consolidating them into a week-long break.
At its February 28th meeting, the Board approved Draft A of the calendar with one amendment. A no school day for students originally scheduled for Friday, October 26 was moved to Monday, October 22 to avoid a conflict between athletic competitions and the division’s System-Institute Day.
“The feedback we received will also be used to assist with planning future calendars moving forward,” Hrynyk explained, noting there were a lot of thoughtful comments and suggestions that will be valuable as the calendar development process begins for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.
