Students at the Livingstone Range School Division will still have to attend school the entire week.
It was being examined whether or not the School Division would move to a four-day school week, but the decision was recently turned down.
The idea of moving to a 4-day work week originated back in 2020 when comments from parents as part of a survey showed there was interest in an adjusted school week.
In 2021, a survey was conducted, and the results found that 41 per cent of parents and 49 per cent of staff were in favor of exploring the proposed 4-day school week.
As part of the October 2022 school year calendar survey, 68 per cent of the people who responded expressed interest in moving to a 4-day week.
Because of that, the Board of Trustees requested more information be presented from the Superintendent, Darryl Seguin.
After almost a year of stakeholder engagement, scenario development, budget forecasting, research, and reporting of the potential 4-day school week for all the schools in the Division, including the Hutterite Colony schools, they put the decision to a vote.
"Although there are many potential benefits for a 4-day school week, as Trustees we ultimately felt that it is not in the best interest of 'Every student, every day'. The risks and potential hardships for students, families, and staff did not outweigh the possibilities," explained the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Lori Hodges, in a recent media release.
In order to determine if moving to a 4-day school week would be beneficial, the Board of Trustees used three criteria to evaluate the shortened week.
Those criteria were student success, budget efficiencies, and staff retention and recruitment.
The Trustees also considered the effect of a 4-day week on student engagement, budgeting models, and feedback from stakeholders to help make their decision.
After a report was created with their findings, the Board of Trustees took five weeks to carefully review it, and then came to a board meeting with the understanding of the pros and cons of the shortened week.
The report found that a shortened week would increase student attendance, because research had suggested that better attendance results from the shortened week, because families will prioritize being at school for the four days, with the opportunity to book appointments on the day students are already not at school.
The shortened week, the report found, also improved the school/home balance and would allow for more opportunities for children to be involved in family activities.
Even though the Board of Trustees took all three pieces of criteria into consideration, the most central part of their discussions was the student success.
"Student success and mental health and wellness is our top priority," Hodges said in the release. "Each Trustee expressed their commitment to a decision that would put students first. While we understand that our stakeholders will have a mix of feelings about our decision, we feel that saying no to a 4-day school week keeps the welfare of our students at the forefront."
During the engagement period, which was six months long, the School Division spent 64 hours participating in in-person engagement with 384 people, administered five surveys, and received 19 letters and 135 emails about the 4-day week.
With all of the information they learned in the process, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted against shortening the school week.
To read the full report, click here.