Spring break came early for School District 43 students thanks to the teachers' walkout this week. Thirty thousand students were off for three days and will be back on a two-week break when the bell rings Friday afternoon.
An extra week was added to spring break last year to help balance the SD43 budget after an experiment in 2010 raised few concerns from parents. Some families might have benefited from the break or daycare wasn't a problem while others might have thought adding 10 minutes per day instructional time to gain an extra week's holiday and save $400,000 was a smart move.
The Coquitlam Teachers' Association wasn't thrilled because substitute teachers lose work.
This year, though, the extra week comes on top of three missing school days. Maybe everyone does need a break from the protracted teachers' dispute but the underlying message is schools are underfunded if holidays have to be extended to save cash.
What do you think? Are you concerned about theimpact of extra days off onstudents' learning? Vote in The Tri-City News' web poll.
