By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The St. Joseph School District is exploring switching to a four-day school week.
Advocates of moving to a four-day school week say one positive outcome could be the retention and recruitment of teachers.
School Board Member Isaura Garcia says this has been seen in the Independence School District.
"Like Independence, Missouri, their applications skyrocketed when they went to a four-day week, and they also had a lot of teachers that wanted to return the next year," Garcia explains to KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. "So, I'm not going to say 100% it's working, but I think it is getting more teachers interested in only working four days a week."
Mostly rural schools in Missouri used the option of switching to a four-day school week, the Independence School District was the first large school to switch to help combat a teacher shortage problem.
Before making any move, the board wants to hear the input of the community and will be sending out a community survey to hear those opinions.
Garcia says hearing from community members on this is very important
"I think without the community's input then we're really making decisions that are not involving them when it's going to affect them in a way that it hasn't, really ever I don't think in the St. Joseph School District history have we even talked about this to the point where we're ready to make a decision," Garcia says.
Parents of St. Joseph School District students should begin seeing the surveys beginning today.
Board Member David Foster says though students would be in class for just the four days, the district would still be open five days a week
"So, there will be the option of students being able to come for that one day, maybe get some tutoring, and see what other options are available as well," Foster points out.
Foster adds that along with students having tutoring opportunities, that fifth day could be used by teachers for lesson planning or things of that nature.
Garcia says however she's conflicted about that idea, with how quickly optional programs seem to fill up
"So, I don't want it to ever become something where we don't have enough staff to cover the kids that actually want to attend if we're offering a day of daycare, or special program, or something like that," Garcia says.