Survey Background
During the COVID pandemic the school district, in consultation with our partner groups, implemented several adjustments to secondary scheduling. These adjustments include organizing learning on a semester timetable and implementing Personal Learning Time.
Providing Personal Learning Time (PLT) in the school day creates additional opportunities for students to engage in learning that is meaningful to them, collaborate with others, seek additional learning support, develop personal organizational skills, and reflect and set goals for their future learning.
Recently, the district conducted a Secondary Structures Survey to gather perspectives from students, parents, and staff about the scheduling structures that have been implemented throughout the pandemic. A summary of the survey responses is attached below.
Next Steps
The district, in collaboration with the RTA, has developed processes that our secondary schools are currently incorporating regarding the development of organizational structures for the 2022-2023 school year and beyond. These processes align with the board’s commitment to student voice and parent input articulated in the Strategic Plan - Priority 5: A Connected Learning Community:
- Goal 3 states Our students’ voices and perspectives are valued, encouraged, and embedded.
- Goal 4, Objective I states that the district will Invite and encourage staff, parents, students, and community partners to be involved in school and district decision-making.
Over the next month, secondary school staff will be reviewing site-based survey results for all participant groups and following collective agreement processes to assist with decision-making. There are a great number of conversations that will be required, including with Parent Advisory Council and Student Council, to inform final decisions on organizational structures at each school.
Principals will be working closely with staff at the school level, and in consultation with the assistant superintendents and deputy superintendent at the district level, to support consistency in decision-making processes. These are complex processes, and it is our hope to achieve alignment between the various survey preferences that have been identified at each site.
If you have questions, please feel free to connect with your school principal.