The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 409 president says his union will fight any plans to change the B.C. school calendar.
Marcel Marsolais, whose union represents school-support workers, was among a group of delegates at a convention last week in Victoria, where they passed an emergency motion opposing a government bill that would eliminate the Septemberto-June calendar and allow school districts to offer year-round schooling.
"I was actually over there at a CUPE B.C. convention in Victoria, and I was at the legislature, as a guest, sitting in the gallery, and the minister introduced it," Marsolais said about Bill 36. "As a co-chair of the CUPE political action committee, I actually went back to the convention and we drafted up an emergency resolution that was also passed.
"We see it as a threat somewhat to our business, which is education, and we feel the traditional school year has worked for how many decades and why would you change something that's working?" he said.
Year-round schooling spreads out holidays throughout the year, typically by offering three months of classes followed by a month of holidays.
Research suggests balanced calendars prevent the learning loss that occurs for some students when they have 10 weeks of summer vacation, a Vancouver Sun article states.
Education Minister George Abbott introduced legislation last week to eliminate the standard calendar in the hope that more districts would gradually adjust their holiday schedules. The bill was in response to requests from several superintendents, he said, although he added he doesn't expect dramatic change to happen quickly, the Sun article says.
The delegates to the CUPE B.C. said the bill to eliminate the standard school calendar is not innovation aimed at improving public education, but rather is a cost-cutting measure.
Vulnerable students and their families are more likely to be adversely affected when calendar changes are implemented, a CUPE press release said. Calendar changes will "victimize" vulnerable students who have weaker school attachment and place added burdens on families already having problems getting adequate and affordable child care, CUPE said. A non-traditional calendar will increase pressure on school support staff, who will "bear a disproportionate burden of the budget cuts that the Bill will trigger," according to the release.
New Westminster Teachers' Union president Grant Osborne said the change would not just be a shift for education, but for society too.
"The summertime is often when students are getting their part-time jobs and building their skills and building their resumes. A lot of people's calendars around travel and vacations are built into that, so it's certainly not to say that it shouldn't be looked at, but I think it's a much larger conversation."
The logistics of dealing with different school schedules could also pose a problem for families, Osborne said.
"We already know when there is a kid in elementary school, and there is a kid in secondary school, in the same family, and there are different calendars, that can be pretty frustrating for parents as well," he said. "So, it's not that it shouldn't be looked at. It needs to be looked at very carefully."
Osborne did take issue with the fact that the government is proposing another change for education. The government is "constantly bringing down new ideas," he said.
"As teachers, we are just trying to figure out, 'OK, what are we trying to change now?'" Osborne said. "There is very little consultation happening. - I don't know how they put together their priorities."
