Board discusses 4-day school week

MORAN — There is at least some interest within USD 256 for a four-day school week.
While the school board has been discussing the cost-saving measure seriously in recent weeks — and off and on for years — this latest conversation took place in light of surveys mailed to the community.
Superintendent of Schools David Hardage presented the results of the tally to the board Monday night.
The district mailed 175 surveys. Of the 175, 58 were returned. Of these, there were 42 “yeses,” 13 “nos” and three “maybes.” 
“I have to admit, I was surprised,” Hardage said. “I thought there would be more ‘nos.’”
The survey also asked: “Do you need daycare services on the day that school is not in session — yes or no?”
As Hardage circulated the completed surveys among the group, the board fell into a discussion of the plan, directing the lion’s share of their questions toward the elementary and junior/senior high school principals — Kenneth McWhirter and Kim Ensminger, respectively — who, according to Hardage, were the figures in the room most knowledgeable regarding the ways such a project would play out in Moran.
So far, no specific academic calendar corresponding to a four-day week has been devised, because prior to the survey results, the district didn’t know if there was enough interest to proceed, Hardage said.
There are certain numerical imperatives that the district must meet: “One thing we do want to do is keep the number of teacher-student contact hours the same,” explained McWhirter. “Right now our students go 1,148 hours. We’re trying to keep that. State law says you have to go 1,116 hours. So we already go quite a few more.”
The savings gained by reshaping the schedule would be, estimated McWhirter, “conservatively speaking, about $40,000 – $45,000,” the largest portion of which would come from reduced transportation costs and a lesser outlay of wages for non-certified personnel.
Not all of the board members were convinced that the projected savings would justify what might be lost in the bargain.
Board member John Booth was the most vocal in his sympathy for families whose daycare arrangements may go pear-shaped in the wake of the proposed change to the schedule.
“I’m worried that we might lose kids with this deal,” said Booth, “and not gain any money. We might be putting an undue burden on somebody that can’t afford it. … You get these families on the border, like in LaHarpe, where we’re kind of pulling a few of those kids. What if their parents decide ‘No, it doesn’t work for me; I’m going someplace else’?
“I mean, in theory, it’s a great deal,” Booth continued, flashing a smile, “as long as it all works, you know, perfectly.”
The strongest arguments in favor of the abbreviated school week were voiced by board member Joshua Herrmann, who recounted his recent conversation with a teacher from Southern Coffey County, a district that made the shift to the shorter week five years ago.
According to this teacher, not only had the students become accustomed to the new schedule in short order, the teachers’ morale was at an all-time high and they had become more productive in their work.
Echoing Herrmann, Principal Ensminger relayed her own conversations with her colleagues at various four-day schools. Not only was teacher morale improved at these schools, she said, “but the students really got after it, and they didn’t have nearly as many attendance problems.”
Hardage made mention of a family friend whose high school aged daughter had used her one extra weekday to pursue college classes at the local university.
While no decision has been made, the board reached an agreement, given the evidence of public interest in the issue, to pursue an up or down decision on the matter — barring a snafu — sometime next month.