North Vancouver high schools consider permanent switch to semester system

After two years of shifting schedules dictated in part by responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the North Vancouver School District is weighing keeping all secondary schools permanently on a semester system.

“We are leaning towards a semester system,” assistant superintendent Chris Atkinson told trustees at the March public board meeting.

Atkinson said an email survey of high school parents and students in January and February revealed more than 70 per cent favoured a semester system over other school timetables, like a linear system.

“We’d want to consider such a strong indication,” he said.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, high schools in North Vancouver ran on a variety of timetable systems. Sutherland, for instance, has always run on a semester system, while Argyle had a linear system.

During the first full school year under the pandemic, secondary schools switched to a cohorted quarter system. In that system, students took fewer courses at one time but classes were longer, and students completed them on a concentrated quarter-year schedule before rotating to a new block of classes.

This year, high schools switched to the semester system, which sees students take four courses from September to January and four courses from February to June. Under the current system, a tutorial "flex time" block is scheduled first thing in the morning, with scheduled classes starting approximately an hour later. One school, Mountainside, which houses the school district's alternate programs, was not included in the change.

Atkinson told trustees both students and teachers liked the later start time for classes.

North Vancouver Teachers Association president Katrina Russell voiced concerns that while there are pros and cons to both linear and semester systems, some school programs could be adversely impacted by an all-semester timetable.

Russell said teachers have concerns about International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement programs in semester systems, because exams for both are held in May. That presents a long gap for those students taking courses in the first semester, she said.

Trustee Cyndi Gerlach asked if the school district might consider retaining one school on a linear timetable to accommodate students whose learning styles or course selections work better under that arrangement.

A decision on switching to an all-semester system at North Vancouver high schools is expected shortly, in time for timetable planning for next year.