New year-long class schedules rile North Vancouver students

Some North Vancouver parents and students are calling out their school district after it announced a change in the way classes are scheduled, a change they say came without consultation.

When the new school year begins next September, several North Shore high schools will abandon their semester-based course schedule and adopt what's known as a linear schedule.

In a linear schedule, students take eight courses at once that last the entire school year. Under a semester system, the total courses are divided into two terms.

The move has some students saying it's a step backwards, and some have started a petition to fight back against the change.

"This completely blindsided us," said 15-year-old Brayden da Roza, who attends Grade 10 at Handsworth Secondary School in North Vancouver. "We felt our voices weren't heard at all as students.

"As somebody with anxiety myself ... juggling eight courses is not going to help that at all."

His high school is one of four supposed to make the switch in School District 44, which includes both the City of North Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver. Da Roza and two fellow classmates created a petition to keep the current schedule and scrap next year's change. 

In the two weeks since they created the online petition, it has gathered nearly 1,400 signatures as of Tuesday evening.

The petition states that most students prefer the current semester system because it offers "an environment conducive to learning and personal growth." It adds that students can build stronger study habits and manage their course load because of its "concentrated focus on fewer subjects at a time ... fostering a deeper understanding of the material."

'None of us are getting satisfactory answers'

According to the school district, which has an enrolment of more than 15,000 students, the change will only affect Handsworth and three other high schools: Argyle, Seycove, and Windsor secondary schools.

The district explained that only four high schools were selected because other local schools either had their own alternative educational models or, in one case, staff there "wholly prefer the semester model." 

The rationale behind the switch to a linear schedule for the four affected schools was because, the district said, having each course last a full school year "provides consistent learning support all year long to the students who need it most," and because it offers a longer time for teachers to assign projects or novels, for example, as well as more opportunities "for staff and students to build relationships."

School District 44's website states that there were in fact two months of consultations "with educators, who have extensive experience with learners of all ages and abilities." 

School district assistant superintendent Chris Atkinson said administrators made the decision after lengthy discussions with a group of teachers, students and parents.

"The consultation process was intended to surface all of the issues between the two schedules," he told CBC News. "It was not designed to be a vote of the most popular schedule."

That process was flawed, said Da Roza's mother, Chrissy. She said there was a lack of transparency around how the change was made.

"We're really unhappy with the way it was handled, the way it was pushed through in a very clandestine, secretive way," she told CBC News. "Other parents have tried to ask for more information about how this decision was made, and why we weren't consulted.

"None of us are getting satisfactory answers."

Da Roza echoed that sentiment, and said he hopes future decisions that affect his peers' education should be made with input from the whole student body.