The Waterloo Region District School Board recently announced the schedule for the 2023-24 school year and some may have noticed that it will begin on the Wednesday after Labour Day rather than the Tuesday.
The WRDSB told Global News that it will hold a professional development day on the first day of the school year rather than classes.
A spokesperson for the board explained that the board is required by the province to do health, safety and awareness training during the school year.
“Last year, this training occurred across multiple PD days that stretched from September to January,” the spokesperson said through email.
“This year, in an effort to better ensure all training is completed early on in the school year and teachers have all the training they are required to complete, a decision was made to do this training on the first day.”
The spokesperson noted that this does not add to the number of PD Days that will be held throughout the school year.
A spokesperson for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board confirmed that kids will be in the classroom on the first day of school.
The board says it will not be offering any form of childcare to parents on that day.