2001-2002 School Calendar Released

The Department of Education has released the 2001-2002 public school calendar.

In 2001-02, all schools will open on Tuesday, Sept. 4 and end on Friday, June 28, for a total of 195 teaching days. All schools will close between Dec. 21 and Jan. 2. March Break will run from March 11 to 15.

This is the second year the department has set a common school calendar that limits non-teaching days to maximize the time students spend in the classroom. A common provincial calendar also brings consistency and predictability in how the school year is scheduled across the province.

"Wherever they live in Nova Scotia, families know when their schools will open and close, and can make plans, based on a common calendar," Education Minister Jane Purves said. "More significantly, by setting limits on non-teaching days, students will be spending more time in the classroom."

Non-teaching days include professional development, administrative, exam, and parent-teacher days. For Grade 12 students, these also include days set aside for graduation exercises.

A maximum of nine days can be used to schedule exams -- one more than last year but fewer than two years ago, before the common calendar.

"In some schools, exams were being stretched over as many as 13 or 14 days," Ms. Purves said. "During that time, when not writing exams, students were out of school. We believe it is better for them to be in class -- with their teachers -- preparing for exams and learning new material."

Another change from last year allows schools to schedule the nine days at any point during the year, to allow for differences between semestered and non-semestered schools.

"There are challenges with respect to student assessment which I hope the added flexibility in this new common calendar will address," said Lavinia Parrish-Zwicker, president of the Nova Scotia School Boards Association.

Graduation exercises must also be scheduled on either of the last two days of the school year.

The number of organizational, administrative and in-service days remains at eight. Of those eight, no more than four can be used for in-services. A maximum of two half-days can be used for parent-teacher meetings.

Changes in the calendar will be considered only under exceptional circumstances.

Other mandatory holidays and vacation days include: Labour Day (Sept. 3), Thanksgiving Day (Oct. 8), Remembrance Day (Nov. 12 in lieu of Remembrance Day), Good Friday (March 29), Easter Monday (April 1) and Victoria Day (May 20).

FOR Broadcast USE

Nova Scotia’s Education Department has released next year’s

school calendar.

All schools will open on Tuesday, September 4th. The last

day of school will be Friday, June 28th. Christmas break is

December 21st to January 2nd. March Break will run from March

11th to 15th.

This is the second year the province has set a common school

calendar for all schools. It sets a standard number of

non-teaching days, like in-services, and exam days.

This calendar adds an additional day for exams to a maximum of

nine.

Education Minister Jane Purves says the aim is to increase

student learning time while providing some flexibility to

schools.

In the past, individual school boards could make changes to

the calendar as long as they adhered to the 195-day school year

schedule.

Ms. Purves says changes to the calendar will be considered

under unusual circumstances.