Students at two Innisfail schools will no longer have the option of attending class year-round, starting in September.
Chinook’s Edge School Division has dropped year-round at Innisfail Middle School and moved the Chinook Center School to a traditional calendar, closing the door on the alternative calendar system in its mainstream schools.
Horizon School, a special-education school in Olds, will continue to run all year. Of the 337 students enrolled at Innisfail Middle School in 2010-2011, 23 are in the alternative track.
The remaining students study within the traditional school calendar.
Innisfail Middle School principal Jay Steeves said the school made the recommendation at Wednesday’s board of trustees meeting because of declining numbers.
Since the Grade 5 to 7 middle school opened in 2004, it has offered the two calendars. Steeves said there has been a progressive decline in students. This year, there were only enough students to fill seats in one year-round Grade 5/6 split class.
“When the school first opened seven years ago, it was fairly balanced between the two calendars,” said Steeves. “And then over time the numbers just dwindled down to this one class. The writing had been on the wall for year or two now. It’s just time to look at the efficiencies of the school and how we can keep everybody under one roof going the same direction.”
By opting for a single calendar, Steeves said they hope to keep class sizes balanced and healthy across the board.
As only one teacher taught in the year-round calendar, there will be minimum effect on staffing.
Parents were informed of the recommendation before it went before the board.
The bigger adjustment will occur at Chinook Center, a kindergarten to Grade 4 school. When students leave the school, they generally move on to Grade 5 at Innisfail Middle School. Opened in 1995, Chinook Center at once offered the two calendars.
Because of dwindling numbers in its traditional calendar, the school phased out the traditional option in 2008. There are 102 students enrolled this year.
Teachers Leslie Ramsell and Lorrie Sparks, who are both on the self-managed team for the small school, said there was open discussion between the two schools about the change.
All Chinook Center parents were contacted to determine if they would keep their children on year-round if the middle school changed, and if they had two children on different tracks if they were able to sustain that.
“The evidence showed that would be difficult and that would be when our numbers would start to drop,” said Sparks.
While the middle school has seen a drop in numbers, the elementary school has stayed constant over the years.
“Nothing is going to change from our school except the calendar date,” said Ramsell. “We still offer the same strong programs. We still run under the same philosophy. It’s just a calendar change.”
“We believe strongly in the educational and health benefits of year-round schooling but we do understand this decision,” Ramsell said.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com