Two-week spring break approved for Greater Victoria schools in 2010
Victoria Times Colonist
By Rob Shaw
May 20, 2009

Greater Victoria school district students will get a longer spring break next year.

School trustees voted unanimously Tuesday night in favour of extending the 2010 break to two weeks from one. It will be a one-year test. To make up for the lost learning time, school days will be extended by a few minutes each day.

The decision applies to all elementary, middle and high schools in Greater Victoria School District 61, which includes Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Victoria, View Royal and a portion of Saanich and Highlands.

The one-week spring break remains unchanged in Saanich and Sooke school districts….

The district has stressed money was not the motivating factor in extending the break. The board will only save perhaps tens of thousands of dollars, said Ferris. Rather, trustees said they want to increase spring holidays for the benefit of families who have said one week is not enough.

The school district has said a longer break is becoming common in Europe. Gulf Islands schools also have a two-week spring break.

Parents are largely in favour of the idea, although some are worried about finding child care during the extra week, said John Bird, chairman of the Victoria Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils. ….

The board did not take comments from public speakers, nor did it provide detailed information to parents and teachers who sat in the public gallery at last night’s meeting.

That upset Candace Smith, president of the Campus View Elementary parents’ association, who said her school was not informed about the proposal at all, and only heard about it Tuesday.

“For myself, personally, I wanted more questions answered about it,” she said, after her request to address the board was denied by Ferris. In the end, Smith said she’s in favour of the idea. However, she questioned how the school board handled the debate.

Tatiana Robertson, who has three children in Campus View, said it will cost her $600 for an extra week of daycare for her three children.

“It really does take a huge chunk out of a budget [for people living] in one of the most expensive places in Canada,” she said.