Discussions

Just curious where you live that your daughter has to get on the bus at 8:00?

Do you think the students from outside the city limits magically transport themselves to school? My children get on the bus at 7:45 each morning and we only live 20 minutes from Brandon.

I was just wondering. Yikes - someone needs their morning coffee! LOL!!

Mine gets on at 7:20 ish gets home 5ish so yes. There are busses running and kids on bus for 1.5-2 hours depending on route. The funny thing is they will spend the same amount of time on bus as in class with the 1/2 days. Good times.

I can literally see the city from my house but my daughter rides the bus 1 hour in the morning and one hour at the end of the day. My daughter is the first pickup. It's just how it works. They then go to Neelin for transfer then off to proper school. It's a long day for a young one. Then to only be at school for 3 hours!!

lovemygirl said "They should be on Friday afternoon's!!! At least then if parents have to take the day off or afternoon they can make a long weekend out of this nonsense!! "

.... Can be such an inconvenience. If teachers really cared they would provide daycare during the summer to help out parents.

This has nothing to do with the teachers. They have no control over this.  
 
There are also going to be struggles with places that do provide childcare to school aged children. Extra staff for half days, places like the sportsplex that try and provide a place for kids on PD days. 1/2 days is not only going to affect parents but these places and their staff as well.

G.Lean said "    lovemygirl said "They should be on Friday afternoon's!!! At least then if parents have to take the day off or afternoon they can make a long weekend out of this nonsense!! " .... Can be such an inconvenience. If teachers really cared they would provide daycare during the summer to help out parents. "

Children can be quite an inconvenience. It's not like people choose to have children.  
 
I think maybe teachers should also provide daycare in the other three months of the year that they don't work.

Degenerate108 said "Why would 20 half days be better than 10 full days?     More to the point, why can't these PD days move to the summer? "

The Public Schools Act mandates that out of the school year, 10 days shall be set aside for PD and Administration days. It also states that a minimum of 5 of those days shall be PD only.  
 
Admin days i:nclude Parent Teacher Conferences, Divisional Planning days, usually first and last day of the year. There are very few if any divisions in Manitoba that would give more than 5 days for PD.  
 
One of those PD Days is a provincial wide PD session for all Public school teachers. It is called Small Area Groups of Educators or SAGE. Brandon hosts their own sessions called LIFT. And yes, it is a paid day for teachers.  
 
As for the half days, I agree with most of the comments. Doing half days are a waste of time if it is a divisional day. By the time the students are dismissed, staff is organized and if they have to travel to a location for PD, nothing would get done.

Thelongandshortofit said "    bdngal said ""More to the point, why can't these PD days move to the summer?"     I have always wondered this. It would mean 10 more full days a child can be in class learning! " As if prime learning would happen in the summer and the kids would be oh so excited to learn on a 30 degree day! Next .... "

I think they mean the 10 current PD days that are currently spread out would be 10 school days that the kids attend throughout the year. The 10 days would be switched to summer....,perhaps the last 2 weeks of June so it doesn't affect teachers summers off (but wouldn't give kids 10 extra learning days) or the first 2 weeks of July, which would shorten the teachers summer but give the kids the 10 extra learning days (throughout the year, not summer) kids don't go to school on PD days....

theeagle said "    Abbysmum said "    Degenerate108 said "Why would 20 half days be better than 10 full days?     More to the point, why can't these PD days move to the summer? " To answer part 1, I'm not sure, although I do remember there being "early dismissal" fairly often when I was in school. I don't think it's 20 days however: if I remember correctly, I think it was 6 half days? There was still a number of full days.     To answer part 2, it's because teacher's don't work in the summer (and they don't get paid for it either). They only get paid for the days they teach, and then they get income averaging so they get cheques 12 months a year, but they're only getting paid for 9 or so of those months. You can't force them to take training on a day they don't work.     And finally, I dislike how they did this. They did a robo call, which while done in the midst of all the blizzard and school closures things (so it wasn't the call you were expected when you picked up the phone to start with), you actively had to search the information because nothing was sent home. It was literally a case of if you knew about it, you could request the survey from your child's school. I had a hard time finding information about it and resorted to asking around on twitter because I wasn't getting anywhere. " They actually get paid for the months they work but it is not prorated over 12 months. At least it wasn't as of a couple of years ago. I could find out if it still is. But it is apparently how the teachers wanted it in the contract negotiations (not my friends preference - but the majority). So no pay in the summer - either budget well, or get a job in summer. "

I understand they don't get paid FOR summer but have been told by teachers in previous years that they have the option to be paid DURING summer, by spreading out their income.  
 
Really though, they know they're off the summer and could budget themselves even if their contract no longer does that for them.

It's only 5 PD days. As an earlier poster said, the 5 other days are first day admin, SAG, 2 parent teacher days, and last day admin. These can't be changed.  
 
And in Brandon, you don't get a choice to  
Get paid in the summer.