Elementary schools in New Westminster could see their hours extended by minutes a day now that the district is going to a two-week spring break next year.
The district was planning to take away students' break time to compensate for the extra week off, but the board passed a motion from trustee MaryAnn Mortensen calling for those minutes to be found at the beginning or end of the school day instead.
"Given that students are in the care of the New Westminster school district for the better part of the day, we have a moral and ethical obligation to ensure that they are provided adequate time to eat, socialize and to partake in physical activities, this includes recess and lunch periods," Mortensen said in her rationale for the change.
The board wasn't willing to support her call for having all schools - just elementary schools, for now - apply the additional minutes at the beginning or the end of the day because of the different school schedules.
The district has to add eight instructional minutes every day to make up for hours lost as a result of extending spring break by a week.
Parents and staff will be consulted on the schedule change, said Mortensen.
Her recommendation was one of three motions from Voice New Westminster trustees, which did not appear on the board's open agenda package for Tuesday. Instead, it was in the closed meeting - a move that bothered Mortensen and fellow Voice trustee Casey Cook, whose two motions also didn't appear on the agenda.
However, all three motions were ultimately discussed at Tuesday's public meeting.
Mortensen couldn't say why the change was made because it was determined in a closed session.
Cook's motion - that all trustee and senior staff expenses are to be listed on the district's website immediately following monthly reporting periods - passed.
A second motion calling for the district to separate out financial statements for the business company, which oversees a school in China, from the district's budget was sent to staff for review and comment, Cook said.
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