(File photo/northeastNOW)

By Cam Lee

NESD calendar

NESD approves new school calendar for 2025-26

Feb 27, 2025 | 2:32 PM

The North East School Division (NESD) has approved their 2025-26 calendar.

The board passed the motion at this week’s meeting.

Director of Education Stacy Lair told northeastNOW they appreciated the feedback from School Community Councils, families, and NESD staff.

Lair said there often aren’t many changes the division can make to their schedule, with provincial government legislation stating that the school year starts after the Labour Day weekend and must wrap up in June.

One change is that School Improvement Planning (SIP) days will take place adjacent to the regular weekends. Lair said that decision was made to give continuity for families with longer weekends. Another change, according to Lair, is the last week of June will have no school, with Monday, June 28 an Admin Day and the following day a SIP day. The last day of school will be June 26.

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The board approved the regular school calendar, which will see 194 teacher days, 185 student days, and 955.8 instructional hours. The alternative calendar for White Fox School and Arborfield School will feature 183 teacher days, 174 student days, and 957.2 instructional hours, and the Hutterian school calendar will have 194 teacher days, 183 student days, and 955.8 instructional hours.

Lair said the 2025-26 calendar is benefitted by Labour Day Monday falling on the first day of September, allowing the division to schedule a full slate of school days that month, and giving them flexibility to schedule full weeks off at certain times of the year.

“That means we have the most September days we can get, because we can’t return until (Sept. 2), after the long weekend,” explained Lair. “That meant that this particular calendar we can have full breaks in April and February, and that February 6 week is a full week off.”

The division is also able to schedule a full two-week break during the Christmas season, as classes will wrap up Dec. 19 and resume Jan 5. Lair said the full two-week break has received a bit of a mixed review in the past, with some feeling it was too long. However, most of the feedback NESD received was for them to keep the two-week break at Christmas if possible.

Lair said they hope the week and two-week long breaks help with atttendance in the division.

“We have a significant focus on attendance knowing that after the pandemic we’re still seeing some data that indicates a little bit of a reduction in our attendance rates,” said Lair. “We weren’t pleased with where they were.”

Lair said they’re trying to construct a calendar that gives people much-needed family time while having a schedule that makes sense and is easier for students to attend on a regular basis.

The finalized schedules are expected to be posted on the division’s website soon.

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Cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com