Last Week Summer Holiday, Continues Age Old Family Tradition as Students To Be In Class Beginning September 8, 2009

Waterloo Region, ON – Trustees of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board last night, revised their March 30 decision regarding the 2009-10 school year student start time. Classes for students will now commence on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 rather than Tuesday, September 1, 2009 as previously decided.

The change will mean the WCDSB school year will begin for school staffs with professional development days on Thursday, September 3 and Friday, September 4, 2009. The last school day for Catholic students will be Tuesday, June 29, 2010. School staff will end the year with a professional development day on Wednesday, June 30, 2010.

The original school year calendar was recommended to Trustees of both the Waterloo Catholic and Waterloo Region District School Boards (WRDSB) by their respective senior educational staffs.

The senior officials believed a September 1 classroom start date would best meet the educational needs of students – particularly regarding maximizing the use of professional development days throughout the course of the school year.

Catholic Trustees supported the joint staff recommendation for a September 1 student start date unanimously. Public Board Trustees -- voting after having been apprised of the Catholic Board’s decision -- instead chose a school start date of September 8.

“We stand fully behind the sound educational reasons the staffs of both boards recommended a September 1 school start date,” said Board Chair Marion Thomson Howell. “However, the WRDSB’s decision to choose a school start date significantly different than the one recommended by our staffs has created a great deal of uncertainty and confusion in the community. It has recently become clear that the community wants both Boards to begin classes on the same day and does not wish to see transportation funds needlessly wasted by the Boards starting on different dates. We are addressing those concerns by revising our classroom start date from September 1 to September 8, 2009”.

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board, representing more than 100,000 Catholic school supporters, operates 52 schools and five adult education facilities serving more than 30,000 elementary, secondary and continuing education students in Waterloo Region – continuing a tradition of quality, inclusive, faith-based education first begun in 1836.