Ottawa French Catholic school board piloting four-day week at two schools
Elementary students at two Ottawa French Catholic schools will soon have the option to go to school four days a week.
The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est has announced plans for a four-day school week pilot-project this fall, becoming the first school board in Ontario to offer families a shortened school week schedule.
Parents of students at École élémentaire catholique l’Étoile-de-l’Est in Orleans and École élémentaire catholique Saint-Rémi in Kanata will be allowed to opt-in to a four-day school week.
Students enrolled in the four-day school week would begin classes one week earlier than students attending classes five days a week and the school year would end three days later than the typical school year. Each school day would last an additional 38 minutes compared to students attending classes five days a week.
"Well-being is one of the CECCE’s core values; this initiative aims to support the well-being of students, their families and staff, and to foster school-life balance," the CECCE said in a statement.
"The CECCE believes this pilot project can benefit students and staff in many ways. For example, it will enable them to spend quality time with family, focus on their passions, participate in recreational activities, go to appointments, pursue their studies, engage in personal projects or simply rest."
The CECCE's director of education says a four-day school week has been studied with examples of other schools in the United States and Europe.
"They were very appreciated by the community, it allowed for better life-school-work balance," Marc Bertrand said.
"It also had other important impacts, such as increasing attendance whether it be for students and staff, a lot of them were being able to take appointments or participate in sports activities on that day off."
Bertrand says the four-day school week is also an opportunity to attract education professionals to its schools.
“A lot of companies and corporations are offering a compressed work week to their staff, as well as municipalities that have taken this position as of lately."
Parent Eric Brière, a member of the CECCE parent council, says he will have to discuss a possible 4-day school week with his girls and spouse.
"Definitely, some parents in the school will want to benefit from it, especially families who have a lot of hockey tournaments throughout the year and they’re already missing a lot of school," Brière said.
"One of our concerns for the parents council was that this was not imposed but I think for some families this will fit very well within their schedules and will allow kids to do something else on a Friday.”
Student participation in the four-day school week will be voluntary, and families whose children attend the schools can decide if they want to enrol in the four-day pilot project or stay with the conventional five-day school week.
The CECCE is hosting information sessions for parents on March 27 at 6:30 p.m.
"Our next step is to ask families that are interested and we’ll look at that data and decide how many grade levels we can offer it at and how many groups we’ll have. We could have two thirds of the community but we could also have none in a certain grade," Bertrand said.
"The objective down the road is to possibly expand it to other schools - elementary or even secondary."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING King Charles' cancer treatment progressing well, says Buckingham Palace
King Charles III’s doctors are 'sufficiently pleased' with his cancer treatment and he is expected to return to public-facing duties, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday.
BREAKING Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
'Unacceptable': Trudeau reacts after AFN chief says headdress taken from plane cabin
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief said her headdress was taken from an airplane cabin this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the incident 'unacceptable' and a 'mistake' on the part of Air Canada.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
From faulty kids' cribs to flammable kids' bathrobes, here are the recalls of the week
Health Canada issued recalls for various items this week, including kids’ bathrobes, cribs and henna cones.
Taylor Swift dons Montreal designer's dress in 'Fortnight' video
A pair of Montreal designers' work has now been viewed over 41 million times. Taylor Swift dons a Victorian throwback black gown in her latest music video, 'Fortnight', designed by UNTTLD due Simon Belanger and Jose Manuel Saint-Jacques.
'Too young to have breast cancer': Rates among young Canadian women rising
Breast cancer rates are rising in Canada among women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, according to research by the University of Ottawa (uOttawa).
'Violation': CSIS had officer investigated after she reported a superior raped her
A CSIS officer's allegations that she was raped repeatedly by a superior in agency vehicles set off a harassment inquiry, but also triggered an investigation into her that concluded the alleged attacks were a “misuse” of agency vehicles by the woman.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.