Burnaby school district looks to stagger school schedules

Families in five high schools in Burnaby have received a letter to say their child’s schedule could change next school year.

The Burnaby School District says they’re looking at staggering start and end times to create more capacity in the following schools:

- Alpha Secondary

- Moscrop Secondary

- Burnaby Central Secondary

- Burnaby North Secondary

- Burnaby Mountain Secondary

“The district has identified that steps will need to be taken to address this challenge of needing immediate space for both current students and the additional ones expected,” reads the letter sent to parents.

Classes are currently scheduled in four blocks. The school division is looking at adding a fifth block.

That change wouldn’t increase the amount of classes for students but instead shift their schedules depending on what class they enroll in. The district says staggering start times should help create more capacity within the school.

Harinder Parmar, the chair of Burnaby’s DPAC, says she wished parents were consulted before the letter was sent.

“Being a parent, you’re juggling so much and now you’ve got kids starting and stopping at different times. It just adds more chaos and more stress,” said Parmar, who is a mother of three.

She says many families rely on their older children to walk home with their younger siblings, something that won’t be possible if their classes end at different times.

“The city has put out their plans that this area is going to have thousands of new people. We need to be making sure that we’re planning for that and making sure that we have schools for all the families that are coming, because at this point, we don’t have enough,” she said.

That switch would follow in the footsteps of some schools in the Surrey school district, where five schools were moved to extended days earlier this September.

Many schools in Surrey have portables to keep up with the growing number of students, a tactic the Burnaby school district is also now employing.

The Burnaby school district declined an interview with CTV News, stating that it is still to make a final decision on the matter, but it does, however, understand the changes that the families and teachers face.