School district hires firm to manage dozens of complaints over changes to school day
Porter O'Brien created survey to send to parents, setting up feedback sessions in Anglophone West
The Anglophone West School District hired a consultancy firm to manage dozens of complaints from parents, three months after significant changes were made to schedules at some Fredericton and Oromocto schools.
Porter O'Brien was brought in to create a survey to send to parents, staff and relevant community organizations. It's been distributed electronically and will provide anonymity to respondents.
The company is also organizing five feedback sessions to collect information about the impact of these changes, which included adding an hour per day of school for kindergarten to Grade 2 students.
The Department of Education communicated the plan for the additional hour for its youngest students in a letter to schools districts back in March. The change was designed to bring the younger grades in line with grades 3 to 8 and reduce the amount of bus drivers needed to accommodate all students, addressing the bus driver shortage.
The survey was sent out during the week of Nov. 18 and parents have until Dec. 20 to complete it.
"We saw it important to reach out to an organization who is familiar with doing something like this and has a reputation of being successful in gathering information and processing it and sharing feedback with an organization," said David McTimoney, superintendent of Anglophone West, on Information Morning Fredericton.
He said the district received between 60 and 80 complaints from parents, most of which were sent when the schedule changes were announced last spring. He said 6,000 families have been impacted by the changes.
"There are concerns about the changes in times and the impact it has on some family scenarios and some routines for the older kids who might have after-school jobs or participate in activities," said McTimoney.
"We know that the change had to happen. It was in response to a change with the teachers' collective agreement and knowing that we needed to operationalize our responsibility to buses."
Kavita Saxena says her 10-year-old daughter's schedule at Liverpool Elementary School in Fredericton has been difficult to manage this year.
Her daughter was used to attending school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. last year, which she said aligned perfectly with her work schedule and her husband's.This year, their daughter finishes school at 2:30 p.m.
"For just half an hour I have to get her a caretaker, which is very difficult because it gets difficult to find people here," said Saxena. "It's been a challenge work-wise and for her as well."
Saxena said daycare was not an option, as she would have been charged for the full day of care even though her daughter only needs half an hour. The cost would have been $100 per week.
She has been asking her friends and people who work from home to watch her daughter after school. "I have been taking a lot of favours from people."
Saxena has already filled out the survey and said it asks parents how satisfied or unsatisfied they are with each bell change and early dismissal.
There is a comment box where parents are encouraged to offer suggestions.
Saxena said she plans to attend consultations held by the district and Porter O'Brien.
She hopes changes will be made for the next calendar year as her daughter will be in her first year of middle school, where the starting time is 9:20 a.m.
"That's going to impact me even more because my husband starts work at 9," said Saxena.
The district's schedule changes have the largest impact on the following schools and the K-8 schools that feed into them:
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Fredericton High School.
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Bliss Carmen Middle School.
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George Street Middle School.
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Leo Hayes High School.
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Nashwaaksis Middle School.
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Devon Middle School.
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Oromocto High School.
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Harold Peterson Middle School.
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Ridgeview Middle School.
Feedback sessions will be held starting Nov. 26 until Dec. 10.
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With files from Information Morning Fredericton