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The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday M ay 21, 2003 - A 5 Critics not convinced that new timetable will benefit students (Continued from page 1 ) R EQ U E ST FOR P R O P O SA L AU DIT AND R E V IE W S E R V IC E S T h e H a lto n D is tric t S c h o o l B o a rd a n d its a f f ilia te s . T h e H a lto n L e a rn in g F o u n d a tio n a n d T h e C e n tr e fo r S k ills , D e v e lo p m e n t a n d T r a in in g , a r e r e q u e s tin g p r o p o s a ls fro m q u a lif ie d a u d itin g firm s fo r th e p r o v is io n o f E x te rn a l A u d it a n d R ev iew ' S e rv ic e s . In fo rm a tio n p a c k a g e s m a y b e p ic k e d u p a t th e J .W . S in g le to n E d u c a tio n C e n tr e , 2 0 5 0 G u e lp h L in e . B u rlin g to n . A n in f o rm a tio n s e s s io n w ill h e ld o n F rid a y , M a y 2 3 , 2 0 0 3 f ro m 1:00 p m to 3 :0 0 p m a t th e J .W . S in g le to n E d u c a tio n C e n tre . A tte n d a n c e a t th is s e s s io n is o p tio n a l. T h e R e q u e s t fo r P r o p o s a l, T 0 3 - 2 1 , c lo s e s a t 2 :0 0 p m o n F rid a y . M a y 3 0 , 2 0 0 3 . H a lto n D is tric t S c h o o l B o a rd E thel G ardiner Eight public schools in Halton have taken part in the board's balanced day pilot project since the start o f the 2002-03 school year. The participants are Pineland and Ryerson in southeast Burlington, Eastview. Munn's and Post's Com ers in Oakville. J.M. Denyes in Milton, and George Kennedy and Park in Georgetown. Proponents o f the new schedule believe the major benefits to students and staff are longer, uninterrupted blocks of teaching time and the two substantial breaks each day for general exercise and intramural gam es as well as staff com m u nication. On the negative side, board officials have noted there may be difficulties in co-ordinating the timing o f half-day staff professional development opportunities, scheduling part-time employees, getting parents/students to pack two snacks per day instead o f one and arranging office schedules in single-secretary schools. Several trustees expressed a variety of concerns about the balanced day. And doubting parents in the audience at the board meeting could be heard mumbling derisive com m ents about some o f the answers given by board staff. Sherri Boyda was one o f the parents in the crowd. She said the board meeting did not convince her that the balanced day timetable is a good thing. "It was m y first time at a board meet ing and it was an eye-opener but my views haven't changed." said Boyda. who has a son in senior kindergarten at Burlington's Pauline Johnson PS. " I think people are not satisfied with the board's information or that there's proof this benefits children." she said of the balanced day. "A lot were under the impression there would have been more information forth com ing before a decision was made." Boyda said she had been looking for the results o f a survey o f the pilot school participants but did not see it on the board's Web site until late last week. However, the board did make the sur vey's general results public by discussing them at a school board meeting on April 2. Suzanne Earle, the assistant superin tendent o f education who delivered the decision to go w ith the balanced timetable, tried to allay some o f the criti cism at the May 7 board meeting. "The idea o f a balanced day has been discussed around the board for about two years, and most intensely since September 2002 and the implementation o f the pilot project. "We don't deny there are concerns out there from small groups o f parents and communities. It is the intention o f staff to review the implementation o f the balance day timetable some time next (school) year." said Earle. Still, it is Boyda's belief that the bal anced day is not welcome at Pauline Johnson P.S. She said she was at a school council meeting Tuesday and that two teachers there d id n 't w ant to switch school schedules. "They were speaking on behalf o f their (school) colleagues (but) a teacher can't speak out (publicly) because that jeopardizes their position w ith the board," said Boyda. "I've not had one call or let ter from a parent with a concern about the balanced schedule. We have a lot of data based on the eight pilot projects." · B ounl cluiir Etliel Gardiner Oakville Trustee Mary Chapin said at the last board meeting that she had received letters o f concern from two mid dle schools in her ward. Earle noted she had only just seen the correspondence and would contact the writers soon to address their worries. Chapin also wondered why no school in her east Oakville constituency was part o f the pilot project. "They didn't volun teer for it." was director Papke's answer. He said staff had wanted to run a greater number o f pilot projects but didn't get the expected response. Earle's report noted that parents, stu dents and staff at the eight pilot schools completed surveys about the balanced timetable at the end o f March with the "majority o f survey respondents from all three groups" agreeing the new schedule was an improvement over the old one. Trustee Peggy Russell o f Burlington asked how many school boards in Ontario are using the balanced day approach. Earle responded that the Simcoe board has about 11 schools in it while the Peel public board had two and the Hamilton-Wentworth board just one. She said other boards were still deciding whether to go with the new schedule as a family o f schools or board-wide. Papke jum ped into the discussion, saying he believes Simcoe has "signifieandy" more than 11 schools utilizing the balanced day schedule and that the two in Peel had employed it for "quite a few years now." Nelson High School student trustee David Waugh said he thought the new schedule was being implemented too quickly with the jum p from a pilot project to almost all o f Halton's approximately 70 elementary schools. Papke half-agreed. "In a way it's a big jum p because it's all schools but in other ways it isn't, because we had pilot proj ects done." he said. Board chair Ethel G ardiner said school councils in her wards in north Halton were leery o f the concept but like it now. "I'v e not had one call or letter from a parent with a concern about the balanced schedule. We have a lot o f data based on the eight pilot projects," she said. One area where Gardiner can see some difficulty is with parents who like to have their children at home for lunch. "The schedule is at odds, there is no doubt about it," she said. Trustee Kelly Amos o f Oakville, with two kids in elementary' schools, and Burlington trustee and vice-chair Debbie Downs both like the balanced day idea Downs thinks it's a boon to teachers as well. "Happy teachers make happy stu dents. Teachers are entitled to a 40minute break" which she said they often don't take. " I think it's unconscionable they haven't been able to." More infomiation on the balanced day timetable can be viewed on the board's Web site at www.haltondsb.on.ca. O f parents, students and staff ai the eight pilot schools surveyed about the balanced day timetable, a little more than half o f the 1,104 Halton parents sur veyed, and nearly half o f the teachers and students involved, responded to the questionnaire. Fifty-nine per cent o f par ents and 80 per cent o f teachers thought the balanced day was a benefit in some way to kids, but only 55 per cent o f stu dents agreed. W D.L. 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