Four Lacombe kindergarten to Grade 9 schools will be allocated one additional Professional Development (PD) Day as Wolf Creek Public Schools (WCPS) board is allowing them to reduce their number of instructional hours by 5.5.
After much deliberation, trustees will allow Lacombe Upper Elementary School, J.S. McCormick School, Lacombe Jr. High School and Terrace Ridge School to reduce instructional hours to 969.5 for a one-year trial.
“I think it would be easy to explain to them they are in a unique situation and we will give it to them on a trial basis,” said trustee Lorrie Jess.
Jess also felt the request was slightly irrelevant because in the fall of 2014 the province is reducing instructional hours to 907, province wide.
Trustee Bob Huff wants the school to provide a report at the end of the trial on how having an additional PD Day positively supported the school.
Trustee Karin Engen didn’t feel the reports or supporting the request was the best course of action. “I think having a school out there running differently from the rest of our schools is inconsistent. I also think it’s inconsistent to have four of our schools when we’re not having the rest of our schools report.”
Engen wanted the reduction universal across the division.
“I think we as trustees deserve to know if there’s any utility to this. We are expected to know what’s happening out there,’ said Huff, explaining his push for the reports.
Due to some busing schedules of Wolf Creek’s rural schools they have many more PD Days than schools in Lacombe. Outlying schools such as Bluffton, which only goes to Grade 9, due to busing, have longer days by approximately 20 minutes, says secretary-treasurer Joe Henderson.
“It’s just a differential. When you have to get kids to two schools and they’re a distance apart one has to start earlier,” said Henderson
“I think this helps level the playing field because the rural schools do have more,” said trustee Donna Peters.
Trustee Barb Walker said if the reduction affected the entire division the numbers would still be uneven, since every school would gain an additional day.
Despite superintendent Larry Jacob’s comments that creating the exception for Lacombe’s four schools would be more difficult than a division-wide decision, the board opted to do just that.
“Next year, the following year, we’re going to have to deal with the hours anyway so I think we should support the request,” said Jess.