The Crystal City School District will ask voters on April 8 whether it may continue its four-day school week for the next 10 years. The measure requires a simple majority vote to pass.
Recent Missouri legislation requires certain districts with four-day weeks or those planning to change to four-day weeks to get voter approval to operate under a four-day schedule. The legislation pertains to school districts in cities with populations of 30,000 or more or districts in counties with a charter form of government. Jefferson County has a charter form of government.
Those districts must get voter approval for a four-day school week before the 2026-2027 school year.
Crystal City Schools switched from a five-day week to a four-day week at the start of the 2020-2021 school year.
If voters approve the measure on April 8, the district will have to put the matter before voters again in 10 years, according to the legislation.
Superintendent Crystal Reiter said the state legislation dealing with the four-day weeks includes financial penalties against districts that do not gain voter approval to retain or adopt a four-day schedule.
She also said the Crystal City School District has had success with the four-day school week, adding that both students and faculty and staff like it.
If the ballot measure fails, Crystal City Schools would return to a five-day week, which she said would make it more difficult to attract and retain quality employees.
The Grandview and Sunrise school districts are the other two districts in the county with four-day weeks, and they do not have similar measures on the April ballot.
