Kids returning to school before Labour Day!!

[aGoofyMom]

Well, I am really glad I found this thread - and all points of view expressed here.

I knew this was a problem for my local Catholic Board, but wasn't sure about the Public Board, or elsewhere in the province. My job requires my vacations to be booked by the end of October of the year previous. We were late this year, and booked in January. Like others, I based my vacation plans on 30-some odd years of schools starting the day after labour day, not realizing they would try to quielty put through this change. I say quietly as it seems to be a province-wide problem that is not getting much parental input.

I have been anxiously awaiting this year for ONE reason. DD's birthday is Sept. 2. I have hesitated in the past to take her on vacation during the start of school. This year, her birthday SHOULD HAVE landed well before the start of school, allowing us to take her to Disney for her birthday. Both DH & I have had Disney birthdays and she is very aware of that.

DH & I will have to sort this one out as is best for us. I anticpate making sure my MPP, and my local school board are aware of my feelings on this.

And again - I am so grateful to all the information posted here. I will do more investiagtion before the letter writing begins!

 

[dancin Disney style]

Not trying to debate at all, just trying to clarify.

First off, I fully understand how it works. The point is that there are 365 days per year this year, the same as other years. So to say that there are not enough days is crazy.

 

[disneynuts777]

Well, I am really glad I found this thread - and all points of view expressed here.

I knew this was a problem for my local Catholic Board, but wasn't sure about the Public Board, or elsewhere in the province. My job requires my vacations to be booked by the end of October of the year previous. We were late this year, and booked in January. Like others, I based my vacation plans on 30-some odd years of schools starting the day after labour day, not realizing they would try to quielty put through this change. I say quietly as it seems to be a province-wide problem that is not getting much parental input.

I have been anxiously awaiting this year for ONE reason. DD's birthday is Sept. 2. I have hesitated in the past to take her on vacation during the start of school. This year, her birthday SHOULD HAVE landed well before the start of school, allowing us to take her to Disney for her birthday. Both DH & I have had Disney birthdays and she is very aware of that.

DH & I will have to sort this one out as is best for us. I anticpate making sure my MPP, and my local school board are aware of my feelings on this.

And again - I am so grateful to all the information posted here. I will do more investiagtion before the letter writing begins!

My precious little niece will be with us this year and she will be celebrating her fifth B-Day on Sept 2nd!!!! I can hardly wait!!!!

 

[cslittle999]

First off, I fully understand how it works. The point is that there are 365 days per year this year, the same as other years. So to say that there are not enough days is crazy.

I was reading an article about this in the Toronto Star. It's actually been quite a while since Labour Day was so late in September. The difference between then and now is the number of PD days (4 then, 6 now) and the addition of Family Day. When you factor in these days and the other provincially mandated vacations (Christmas break, March break, ...) there aren't enough instructional days between Labour Day and the end of June to make it work.

What I find disappointing is the lack of communication from the school boards. This was not a surprise. They knew as soon as Family Day was announced that they would have problems this coming school year and the one after that. They could have communicated any potential school year much sooner than now. Our school board hasn't announced anything about when school will start. By default everyone is going to assume that school will start after Labour Day.

I feel for the teachers. I think they could be facing some very empty classrooms if the school boards start school year prior to Labour Day with actual instructional days.

 

[caisland]

In Prince Edward Island the caledar was just posted. School starts for kids September 8th.

We are currently booked for Pop Century for free dining Aug 23 - Sept 6th.

Get the dollar back up please!

http://www.gov.pe.ca/educ/index.php3?number=1024904&lang=E

 

[Tiger926]

Not sure if this will help anyone, but here are potential holidays listed as on Ministry of Ed website:

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/list/calendar/holidaye.html

I just checked my board website (Catholic board) and there is nothing on there currently about finalized school calendar as Ministry has until March 1st to finalize. We normally start day right after Labour Day as well, but with added P.A. Days (given to us by government) and Family Day, there may very well have to be a change to the calendar, but I'm not anticipating a change as we have same amount of P.A. Days as last year and we also had Family Day last year, and no changes were necessary. I guess it depends upon each board's P.A. Days as the instructional days are set by the government and must be adhered to by all boards within each province.

Good luck, Tiger

 

[Debbie]

First off, I fully understand how it works. The point is that there are 365 days per year this year, the same as other years. So to say that there are not enough days is crazy.

The issue isn't that there are 365 days in a (calendar) year. The issue is that there are 196 available days for teaching between September 1st and June 30-the school year. There are 194 school days legislated by the Ministry of Education. Therefore, the slack needs to be taken up after September 1 and before Labour Day. BTW, if I am not mistaken there will be an issue next year, by one day. As I said before, the best course of action would be to contact your Board and trustee for clarification. That would also let your opinion be known.

 

[Sheribo]

.We had booked HH for the week before labour day! Sheesh, do they have any idea how hard it is to get into Hilton Head!!!

So far, I see they have narrowed it down to either the 26th or the 31st.

 

[Dimples1973ca]

I was just on the website for the Halifax area and they have a posted start date of September 1st. I am glad I canceled our end of August trip as DH is a teacher here and we would never have been able to swing that.

 

[disneynuts777]

It looks like York Region will be starting after the Labour Day Weekend. Our local paper just had an article in it explaining that both the public and catholic boards will be starting the year with a couple of PD days with the children returning to class after Labour Day!!!! I hope this is the case. The school board (catholic) says it will have school calender information available on March 2/09.

 

[dvcdisney]

I was just on the website for the Halifax area and they have a posted start date of September 1st. I am glad I canceled our end of August trip as DH is a teacher here and we would never have been able to swing that.

Can you tell me where you were able to get this information? I am trying to get onto the website and I can't seem to get in to check. And the phone lines are constantly busy.

Thanks.

 

[Sheribo]

It looks like York Region will be starting after the Labour Day Weekend. Our local paper just had an article in it explaining that both the public and catholic boards will be starting the year with a couple of PD days with the children returning to class after Labour Day!!!! I hope this is the case. The school board (catholic) says it will have school calender information available on March 2/09.

I'm hoping that there will be enough feedback from the parents to force them to do the same here. Yes, I know that it means our kids have to stay in school later next year but at least we'll have time to plan for it.

 

[5boyz]

I just called my kids school and she said it is 99.99999 that it will not be Sept 8th. Get rid of 2 pd days....too many plus long weekend and the stupidest one ever Early Release Day...what a total pain!

 

[disyady]

We are in the Halton school board and received a notice about this as well.
My friend who is a teacher in the Halton Board told me that the teachers were all asked when they would prefer to return. Her impression is that majority of teachers chose the week before labour day.

I'm in Halton and it looks like I'd better search my girls' backpacks for missing notices! They are both in Grade 8 and we have a trip booked from Aug 23-31. I was hoping that they wouldn't miss their Grade 9 orientation like their older sister did 6 years ago but it looks like I miscalculated. I always figured with 2 girls in the same grade that I'd never have the problem of handouts not making it home - boy was I wrong! If it wasn't for these boards I wouldn't have known about this - thanks everyone!

 

[maggieb9975]

hey there, I e-mailed my board Huron Perth Catholic Board and this is what I got....

Hello Marg
The calendar is presently at the committee level with our co terminus board..However, for teaching staff ,the school year will definitely begin before Labour day weekend according to Ministry direction.
It is as yet undecided whether students will begin prior to Labour day. The final decision is likely by the end of March
At this time, this is the information that is available...I hope this helps
Martha
Director of Education

 

[maggieb9975]

I'm in Halton and it looks like I'd better search my girls' backpacks for missing notices! They are both in Grade 8 and we have a trip booked from Aug 23-31. I was hoping that they wouldn't miss their Grade 9 orientation like their older sister did 6 years ago but it looks like I miscalculated. I always figured with 2 girls in the same grade that I'd never have the problem of handouts not making it home - boy was I wrong! If it wasn't for these boards I wouldn't have known about this - thanks everyone!

I know exactly what you mean!! But I have 3 in grade 11 now and I STILL never got notes !!!

 

[Ham Ham]

Here's a couple of options.

Move several PA days to the week prior to Labour day.

Couldn't we arrive at the same amount of time in the class room by shaving a few minutes from lunch or adding a couple of minutes to the end of a school day?

 

[Sheribo]

hey there, I e-mailed my board Huron Perth Catholic Board and this is what I got....

Hello Marg
The calendar is presently at the committee level with our co terminus board..However, for teaching staff ,the school year will definitely begin before Labour day weekend according to Ministry direction.
It is as yet undecided whether students will begin prior to Labour day. The final decision is likely by the end of March
At this time, this is the information that is available...I hope this helps
Martha
Director of Education

The staff (admin, teaching etc) always start the week before labour day so that's nothing new. If the kids start the week before labour day, then the staff will be starting 2 weeks before. That's the part that affects me. I am not a teacher but am on the admin team. I love my job. Yes, I have 2 months off every summer without pay but that is my choice. I book summer camp for the week before school starts so I can go back to work. Now I am on a waiting list to change the week I requested since everyone is scrambling. And of course, our end of summer road trip is now the 2nd week in August. ARGH!

 

[Jennifer16]

I am a teacher with the Peel Board of Education. Today we got "notice" of the problem with next years calender and the required number of teaching days. We were told that Peel was not making a decision at this time - they are hoping to cooridinate with other boards in Ontario. I hope this is true - a few years ago Peel and Toronto had different March Breaks ... what a disaster if you work in one board, but have kids attending school in the other!

 

[Sheribo]

I'm in Halton and it looks like I'd better search my girls' backpacks for missing notices!

I have 3 children and I never received anything at home. I found out when I saw it on CTV. The next day, there was an article in the newspaper. I went to work last week - at an elementary school - and starting telling staff. They were all surprised.