In an effort to save money on transportation costs, the Calgary Board of Education is changing the schedule on Fridays, but many families say they aren’t on board with the idea.
Virtually all of the schools in the CBE are included in the change and officials say it will help them be more efficient with school bus resources.
“We pay for a bus for a portion of time so, if that bus does one route we will pay the same amount as if it does two or three. So aligning bell times allows us to optimize those,” said Carrie Edwards with the CBE.
However, it’s causing more work for families who now need to look for child care to handle the Friday schedule.
“It’s pretty frustrating, especially if you have multiple children because you’ve got 11:00 dismissal for Kindergarten, 11:50 for other children and you have to bring them back at 12:50 after lunch,” said Luke Allan, a father of three.
Allan says he will have to change his work schedule to accommodate for the changes.
As for teachers, their work day won’t necessarily end once Friday afternoon rolls around. The CBE says they will still be working, just not in the classroom.
(With files from Chris Epp)
