Pembina Hills trustees approved the 2022-2023 School Calendars for every school in the division during their Feb. 23 meeting, including the two new alternate calendars for Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS) and R.F. Staples School in Westlock.
As explained by Assistant Supt. of Education Services Mark Thiesen, the board originally accepted the 2022-2023 division calendar back in December.
That division calendar is then used by schools within Pembina Hills to develop their own calendars, working in partnership with staff and school councils, he said.
While Barrhead Elementary School and Westlock Elementary School align with the division calendar, many other schools have alternate calendars.
For instance, BCHS and R.F. Staples both wanted calendars that included four “alternate operational days” where staff will be working but there will be no classes for students.
In the case of both schools, the four alternate operational days fall in October, November, January and April. They will be used for staff collaboration.
Once the various calendars are completed, Thiesen said they are reviewed to ensure they meet several criteria laid out in AP 60-05, such as offering a minimum number of instructional hours.
The province’s minimum requirement for instructional hours is 950 hours for Grade 1-9 students and 1,000 hours for Grade 10-12 students.
Pembina Hills, however, requires an additional 10 hours for Grade 1-9 students to account for snow days and similar disruptions.
The final step in this process was to get the board’s authorization for all of the calendars. Now that trustees have approved them, they will be posted to the Pembina Hills website.
