By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph School Board members vote Monday on whether the St. Joseph School District adopts a four-day school week.
It’s a controversial issue that divides school board members.
Member Whitney Lanning has been impressed by the effect a four-day school week has had on the Independence School District.
“They saw a 60% reduction in behaviors (problems) from their students,” Lanning tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “They’ve seen improved retention of the staff that they have. They saw improved attendance from students, especially their low-income students.”
Less impressed with those numbers is school board member Isaura Garcia.
“My only concern with that is that we’re not allowing them a whole year to finish that process for us to be able to see, has it actually been successful?” Garcia asks during a joint appearance on the KFEQ Hotline with Lanning.
Lanning was impressed during a presentation to the board about the four-day school week adopted by the Independence School District. The Independence district is one of the largest Missouri school districts to adopt the four-day school week. Approximately 170 Missouri school districts have switched to holding classes four days a week. Missouri has more than 500 public school districts.
Independence school officials struck the right chords with Lanning.
“All of those are issues that we are grappling with: attendance, recruitment, retention, behaviors,” according to Lanning. “To me, we are at a crossroads. Traditional measures are not going to save this district.”
While board member Isaura Garcia agrees St. Joseph struggles with those issues, she isn’t convinced a four-day school week solves them.
“I by no means am trying to ignore that or have the district ignore that,” Garcia insists. “I have a problem with the fast rate that we’re moving when we’re talking about reconstructing the educational system for our kids and the educational schedule.”
A study issued by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education indicates the move to a four-day school week has not had an effect on student academic achievement; essentially finding it has had a neutral impact on student grades.
“So, to me, if there’s no positive or negative effect to students, we have to figure out how we keep staff,” Lanning states.
Though the switch is touted as a way to attract quality teachers, Garcia wants the administration to explore other options.
“Really, looking at other ways to compensate our teachers and provide more support without flipping the educational system on its head would be my recommendation,” Garcia says.
The public is invited to comment on the proposal to switch to a four-day school week at the Retention and Recruitment Committee meeting at 4:30 this afternoon in the Commons Room, 1425 North 26th.
The school board is scheduled to vote on the measure at its meeting Monday, which begins at 5:30 at the Troester Media Center, 3401 Renick.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.