Parents who objected this year to strictly daytime parent teacher interviews have made an impact on the Cowichan Valley school district.
The 2014/15 school calendar, adopted at the end of March by Trustee Mike McKay, contains “a few solid changes for next year,†according to assistant superintendent Sheryll Koers, who quarterbacked the project for the district.
The most notable change is a return to the previous style of evening parent-teacher interviews.
“We’ve also tried to do it so that the fall parent teacher interview falls before report cards as many of our teachers prefer that and then in the spring parent teacher interviews are happening after report cards to balance that out with requests,†she said.
The second parent teacher interview has been moved from February into March.
During consultation, there were discussions around moving the spring five-day closure even into November to balance out the semester but after all the consultation we’re recommending that the spring break and five-day closure be held on the second and third week of March. The semesters would then be balanced, she said.
McKay said he thought the amount of interest shown by the community should be acknowledged.
“An effort was made to move parent teacher interviews in order to free up more time for professional development [for teachers]. There was significant opposition and it didn’t achieve what we hoped it would achieve,†he said.
“I also appreciate the move of the spring break and closure so there’s a little bit of separation before Easter arrives so we don’t get such a lot of time away from school.â€