The Fox C-6 School District has started providing some answers about the possibility of switching to a four-day school week.
A page with information about a four-day schedule has been added to the district’s website.
According to some of the answers on the Frequently Asked Questions sections of the web page, if the school district were to adopt a four-day week, it likely would not hold classes on Mondays, and it would add about 40 minutes to each school day to meet the state’s requirement that students attend 1,044 hours of classes during a school year.
The web page also says district employees who are paid hourly would not see smaller paychecks because the district would adjust hourly pay if it changes to a four-day week, and the district would not reduce benefits, like health insurance.
District officials have said that teachers and other salaried employees also would continue receiving the same pay.
Superintendent Paul Fregeau said on March 6 that the district is working to answer more of the most frequent questions, adding that the next questions to be answered will address what a four-day week school calendar would look like, how snow days would be handled and day care availability.
“We plan to address some of the most commonly asked questions in the coming days,” Fregeau said. “After that, we will address additional questions following the next Community Conversations (meeting). Of course, as we learn new information, draft calendars and get questions from our community, we will continue to update that section of the website as needed.”
The district started collecting opinions, questions and concerns about a four-day school week on Feb. 27 at the first of four planned Community Conversation public meetings. A second meeting was held March 6.
The meetings were open to anyone who lives in the district’s boundaries, and those who could not attend the meetings were given the chance to share their thoughts, questions and concerns through a link in the recordings of the meetings. The recordings are on the district’s YouTube channel.
The district also will hold meetings at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, in the small gym at Seckman High School, 2800 Seckman Road, in Imperial and at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 4, at the Fox C-6 Service Center, 849 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold to answer questions about a four-day week.
Fregeau said Fox is considering converting to a four-day week to save money and estimated the savings could be between $2.5 and $3.2 million, or about 2 to 3 percent of its operating budget.
He said the savings primarily would come from not running school buses one day a week and not providing breakfast and lunch one day a week, as well as not needing to pay as many substitute teachers.
Bills have been filed in the state Senate and House of Representatives that would apply to a district located either entirely or partially in charter counties or cities with more than 30,000 residents, like Jefferson County. Sen. Doug Beck, a Democrat from Affton, and state Reps. Robert Sauls, a Democrat, and Aaron McMullen, a Republican, both of Independence, filed the bills.
The bills filed by Beck and Sauls also have provisions that districts with five-day school weeks would receive an additional 2 percent in funding to be used to increase teacher salaries.
“We are still reviewing the potential impact of these pending bills,” Fregeau said.
As another possible cost-saving measure, Fregeau said district officials may consider closing a school. Last year, he said school officials estimated it would save about $1 million a school year by closing one of the district’s 11 elementary schools.
Fregeau said the district needs to find ways to cut expenditures because officials expect to see a reduction in state funding due to declining enrollment and the elimination of federal funding the district has been receiving because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the start of this school year, the Fox district reduced its operating costs by eliminating teaching and administrative positions by attrition, by reducing the number of Chromebooks it planned to buy and by cutting buildings’ budgets. The district also increased its operating funds by shifting 15 cents from its capital improvement levy to its operating fund levy.
“We need to look for sustainable savings,” Fregeau said March 6. “One-year reductions will not suffice moving forward.”
The March 6 Community Conversations meeting featured Dale Herl, superintendent for the Independence School District, which has about 14,000 students and became the largest district in the state to switch to a four-day week. It made the change at the start this school year.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education says 168 school districts have a four-day week. However, Jon Turner, an associate professor at Missouri State University in Springfield who has studied the impact of four-day school weeks, said that number is likely closer to 180.
Herl told the audience that the Independence district, which is located in a suburb outside Kansas City, made the change to better attract and retain teachers.
He said the district’s operating cost rose because of activities it offers for students on the day classes are not held and because it reduced the cost of district-provided child care from $45 to $30 per day.
“Our (reason to go to a four-day week) was 100 percent driven around our ability to recruit and retain staff members,” said Herl, adding that the district had a 360 percent increase in applications for teaching positions and has very few vacancies. “That is not only teachers, but it is also classified staff. Our why sounds like it is different than yours.”
Herl said he had received just one email complaining about the four-day week since the school year started.
He said student attendance has risen by just less than 2 percent and teacher absences are down 16 percent this school year.
Herl also said enrollment increased by nearly 200 students this school year.
“I heard people say, ‘If you go to a four-day week, kids will leave the community,’” he said. “Could we have had some that left? Certainly. We offset that by almost 200 kids.”
Herl said the Independence district offers a learning program for elementary students and tutoring and club activities for all students on Mondays, when the district doesn’t hold classes.
It also has partnered with its area community college to offer college-credit courses on Mondays, and the district plans to increase the course offerings for the next school year, he added.
Herl said the college-credit courses are well attended, but the other programs offered on Mondays are not.
He said Independence school officials were told that programs held on the day classes aren’t held, including child care, would not be used much.
“The reality is, kind of like summertime or spring break, parents figure it out,” he said. “They find what works best for their children, and they don’t send their children to the activities on Mondays.”