
The Kamloops-Thompson School District office in Kamloops. (Photo via Bill Cowen)
Parents in the Kamloops-Thompson School District preparing to take charge of their children for the next two weeks for Spring Break should also be making plans for the same thing for at least the next three years.
Monday’s School Board meeting saw the trustees approve the calendar for the 24/25, 25/26, and 26/27 school years, all of which feature a two-week spring break.
This comes despite close to one-third of those who filled out a recent board survey – eight out of 27 people – calling for a return to the one-week break.
Board Chair Heather Grieve concedes the two-week break is somewhat contentious.
“People see a lot of benefits and also some challenges with the two-week Spring Break,” Grieve said, on NL Mornings. “I think that it becomes a person and family issue, as well as how it impacts our staff as well.”
While the coming three years will see a two-week Spring Break, Grieve does suggest the concept isn’t written in stone.
“Even when we were going through the consultation a few years ago, there’s always been sort of mixed responses around the two weeks versus one week Spring Break,” noted Grieve. “I think that it’s [a possible revert back to one week] something that we can consider going into any of our bargaining, when we talk to KTTA [Kamloops Thompson Teachers Association] and CUPE and stuff like that.”
Despite it being unpopular with some parents, Grieve notes their children aren’t losing any classroom time as a result of the extended time off.
“The number of instructional hours doesn’t change when you look at extending or having a two-week Spring Break,” she said. “It could be built on to things like Easter and other things like that. You might extend a day or decrease lunch hours, things like that.”
SD73 first introduced the two-week Spring Break in March of 2022, shaving down other holidays and other non-classroom time to maintain the mandatory number of instructional days.