Henderson Elementary School requested permission to implement the “Balanced School Day” schedule for the 2020-21 school year.
At last night's MVSD Board meeting, the school board approved the request.
The Balanced School Day format changes how recess and nutrition breaks are distributed throughout the day.
The length of the school day stays the same, but the time within the day is “balanced” between two nutrition and activity breaks.
Rhonda Casavant, principal at Henderson, has taken steps to prepare for the implementation.
She had a conversation with Lesia Jensen, principal at Whitmore School to discuss the benefits Whitmore has experienced from the balanced timetable. Casavant spoke with Superintendent Dan Ward about the potential interest of implementing the model. At a recent in-school PD day Casavant presented the timetable to the teaching staff and they completed a task around the benefits and potential pitfalls, the staff was fully on board with the model. In February at the Parent Council Meeting, Casavant presented the concept, those members were all in support of the model. Casavant shared with Ward that the teaching staff and parent council were on board with the balanced timetable, and Ward requested Casavant sends a letter to him to move forward with the approval.
Henderson’s reasons for moving to a balanced school day are two-fold.
First, the balanced schedule increases the instructional time by reducing time lost during transitions. Time is lost providing students time to have snacks during the morning and afternoon as well as when students get dressed and undressed before and after recess.
The second reason for the schedule is that it allows students longer periods of time to eat. This means instead of trying to fit in a quick snack before or after recess, students have two scheduled nutrition breaks during the day and with these planned breaks, parents can plan for snacks that are nutritious rather than those that are quick and convenient.
Other benefits include children not being as hungry at the end of the day and reduction of litter on the playground.
