Regina Public Schools is changing its Kindergarten schedule in order to eliminate confusion for parents and students.
Kindergarten was moved from half-day classes five days a week to all-day classes on varied days throughout the week. The schedule proved to be challenging for students, parents and teachers.
“It’s confusing,” said Sheila Cunningham, whose son is in preschool. “It’s confusing for the little ones and it’s confusing for moms.”
The days were supposed to alternate for children in Kindergarten. Changes became hard to keep track of into the first months of the school year – and are even harder to follow in the spring.
“At this point, students follow our internal day one to five schedule, so it could be Tuesday/Thursday one week and Monday/Wednesday the next,” said Mike Walter, deputy director of school services. “It’s all over the placed and it’s created some challenges for parents to be able to meet that schedule.”
On Tuesday night, the school division decided to move to fixed days for full day Kindergarten classes. Classes will be fixed for Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday, and both classes will alternate Fridays.
“It’s just been one year,” Walter said. “We’ve received some feedback from parents, there was some frustration, the schedule seemed to be all over the place and teachers told us this as well. Students were showing up on the wrong day, so we thought we (had) to be responsive to that.”
Parents like Cunningham say the change is welcome news.
“Going back to the regular schedule of Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday and rotating Fridays is a great idea,” she said.
Regina Public Schools plans to release its new schedule before the end of May.
Based on a report by CTV Regina's Gina Martin
