Ontario March Break 2020

[grantclaire]

Hi, just doing some advance planning. Do we know when most boards are having MB? I am in the GTA. Thanks

 

[FigmentSpark]

Last fall, I found this:

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/list/calendar/holidaye.html



While nothing is carved in stone until the board votes on it, I booked our cruise based on this. I hope I'm right.

Now if they give me a PA day on the Friday, as well, I'd be a happy mom.

 

[SaraMc]

Usually its the week of st Patrick’s day.

 

[bababear_50]

Hi
I am in Mississauga,Peel Board Of Education.
This is the one I am using
Hugs
Mel
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/list/calendar/holidaye.html

fingers crossed.

 

[grantclaire]

Thanks,

 

[bookbabe626]

TDSB board meeting minutes have stated that they’re going with March 16-20 as per the Ministry calendar.

 

[bankr63]

That would be most boards in Ontario. Quebec is very generally a week (sometimes two) before Ontario. We flew through Calgary this year, and found that their break was 2 weeks later than ours (meant connecting flights weren't too busy). A lot depends on what part of Canada you hail from.

 

[darwinsrule]

Officially the boards are supposed to get approval to do anything different than the official schedule in the links. The Ministry of Education put a lot of this in place after the mess a few years back where different boards around Toronto went with different weeks. DW is a teacher here in Toronto (and we live in TO so we were fine). There we other teachers at her school who live outside who had kids off a different week for MB. The complexity of commuting in and around Toronto make anything other than that approach a complete nightmare.

 

[bankr63]

Officially the boards are supposed to get approval to do anything different than the official schedule in the links. The Ministry of Education put a lot of this in place after the mess a few years back where different boards around Toronto went with different weeks. DW is a teacher here in Toronto (and we live in TO so we were fine). There we other teachers at her school who live outside who had kids off a different week for MB. The complexity of commuting in and around Toronto make anything other than that approach a complete nightmare.

Funny, but I actually like that the 4 Ottawa Boards almost always go on slightly different weeks. As a manager it gives me a lot more flexibility in scheduling staff. The parents of kids in Catholic or French boards want different week off than those with kids in the Public board (my Quebec resident parents have a different week as well); makes my life a whole lot easier. I would think it is rare where families have kids in different boards, although it does happen here a bit with the Elementary to High School switch (most common time for kids to switch boards because of the physical location of the schools). Also gives us a couple of weeks of relief from rush hour gridlock here instead of just one really quiet week.
OCDSB (Public board) generally follows the Ministry calendar pretty closely, but sometimes they do take the date to a vote by the teachers; so it is certainly possible to not follow the calendar. The teachers chose to keep it on the same week last vote; probably because they had all booked their vacations already based on the ministry calendar I know how DW voted because we had our vacation booked for months in advance.

 

[Aladora]

I’m still trying to figure out why BC thought it was a good idea to have 2 weeks for Spring break!

 

[grantclaire]

I now work part time for a private school in Peel Region and we get the same week as Peel School Board plus the week after! My DD24 is working in Northern Quebec for the Cree School Board and her break is at the end of April and is known as Goose Week! So she gets to fly "South" to Toronto.

 

[Jaimetropmickey]

I’m still trying to figure out why BC thought it was a good idea to have 2 weeks for Spring break!

It was to save the board money... no need to pay for support staff (custodians etc...) and heating.

 

[Jaimetropmickey]

Funny, but I actually like that the 4 Ottawa Boards almost always go on slightly different weeks. As a manager it gives me a lot more flexibility in scheduling staff. The parents of kids in Catholic or French boards want different week off than those with kids in the Public board (my Quebec resident parents have a different week as well); makes my life a whole lot easier. I would think it is rare where families have kids in different boards, although it does happen here a bit with the Elementary to High School switch (most common time for kids to switch boards because of the physical location of the schools). Also gives us a couple of weeks of relief from rush hour gridlock here instead of just one really quiet week.
OCDSB (Public board) generally follows the Ministry calendar pretty closely, but sometimes they do take the date to a vote by the teachers; so it is certainly possible to not follow the calendar. The teachers chose to keep it on the same week last vote; probably because they had all booked their vacations already based on the ministry calendar I know how DW voted because we had our vacation booked for months in advance.

All public/catholic, French/English boards have the same March break in Ottawa. What is different is the start and end date of school. I teach in the English Public which starts one week after my DDs who go to French Catholic school . In many years of teaching we have always followed the Ministry calendar... good for us super planners!

 

[FigmentSpark]

I'd love to know how they pick whether to put a PA day before spring break or not. And why some months will have two while others have none. PA/PD days are decided by the board aren't they?

 

[Jaimetropmickey]

I'd love to know how they pick whether to put a PA day before spring break or not. And why some months will have two while others have none. PA/PD days are decided by the board aren't they?

Some are Board mandated and some are Union mandated. For high school, we typically have a PD immediately after marks are due (november, february, april, june). Since there are no reporting period in March, that might explain why there is no PD before the break.

 

[ottawamom]

Funny, but I actually like that the 4 Ottawa Boards almost always go on slightly different weeks. As a manager it gives me a lot more flexibility in scheduling staff. The parents of kids in Catholic or French boards want different week off than those with kids in the Public board (my Quebec resident parents have a different week as well); makes my life a whole lot easier. I would think it is rare where families have kids in different boards, although it does happen here a bit with the Elementary to High School switch (most common time for kids to switch boards because of the physical location of the schools). Also gives us a couple of weeks of relief from rush hour gridlock here instead of just one really quiet week.
OCDSB (Public board) generally follows the Ministry calendar pretty closely, but sometimes they do take the date to a vote by the teachers; so it is certainly possible to not follow the calendar. The teachers chose to keep it on the same week last vote; probably because they had all booked their vacations already based on the ministry calendar I know how DW voted because we had our vacation booked for months in advance.

As a parent who had children in both the Public and Catholic Ottawa school boards at the same time (elementary and high school), we had the same March Break each year in Ottawa. The different week is an Ontario/Quebec thing hence the possible confusion.

 

[hdrolfe]

As a parent who had children in both the Public and Catholic Ottawa school boards at the same time (elementary and high school), we had the same March Break each year in Ottawa. The different week is an Ontario/Quebec thing hence the possible confusion.

I always thought the french boards had a different week, but I have no kids attending them so it was just a thought I do know all the boards have different PD days, a colleague has her daughter in the other board and we have different PD days. I do like that so far the Catholic board tries to put them with the long weekend, so the Friday before Thanksgiving, Family Day, May long weekend. I like that for planning long weekends myself.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Some are Board mandated and some are Union mandated. For high school, we typically have a PD immediately after marks are due (november, february, april, june). Since there are no reporting period in March, that might explain why there is no PD before the break.

That was my suspicion. There have been years where the PD day was before the March break, though, so that makes it confusing.

 

[bankr63]

That was my suspicion. There have been years where the PD day was before the March break, though, so that makes it confusing.

The last time it happened it was more of a one-off and was a part of Uncle Dalton's austerity attempts than anything driven by the board calendar. I wouldn't expect to see that back anytime soon. Don't think his Fordship will do anything quite so popular.

 

[bankr63]

As a parent who had children in both the Public and Catholic Ottawa school boards at the same time (elementary and high school), we had the same March Break each year in Ottawa. The different week is an Ontario/Quebec thing hence the possible confusion.

It can vary by board by year. CEPEO (French public) doesn't always follow the OCDSB (they did align this year for MB however). I have a couple of my peeps who have kids in that board (and used to live in a house that backed onto one of their elementary schools - VERY obvious when school was out), others with kids in the Rural East boards and as I said a bit of variability does help us out with scheduling. I can't remember the OCDSB (DW teaches in that board) varying from the Ministry calendar ever, but have seen many examples in the other boards over the past years.

Point being, you can't take the Ministry calendar as 100% accurate, and some boards certainly do get approvals for variances on a regular basis. Always check with the specific board, and if the schedule is not yet set, have a plan in place to make changes to your travel bookings.