The Grandview R-2 School District will switch from a five-day to a four-day school week – Tuesdays through Fridays – for the 2019-2020 school year.
Grandview will be the first district in Jefferson County to go to a four-day per week schedule, school officials said.
They said the move is designed to keep Grandview teachers from leaving for better-paying jobs at other districts.
The district informed parents about the switch in a letter published on the Grandview website. According to that letter, the district will add five minutes to each school day next year, backing up the start time on Tuesdays through Fridays to 7:40 a.m. from 7:45 a.m.
Under the 2019-2020 schedule, the district will have 156 school days (not including snow days), down from 164 planned for this year, but that will easily meet state requirements for class time, Superintendent Matt Zoph said.
The Grandview Board of Education voted 5-2 Feb. 21 to make the switch. Board members voting for the change were Bob Gearhart, Brian Dugan, Terry Perren, Steve Kuczka and Kenneth Ramsey.
Those who voted against the switch were Tim Brown and Cynthia Modrosic. Brown and Modrosic did not respond to requests for comment.
Gearhart, board president, said the district has the second-lowest paid teachers among the county’s school districts and has battled teacher turnover for years.
According to the 2018 Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education report card for districts, the average teacher salary at Grandview is $37,977 for the regular school term.
Zoph said it is not feasible for the district to raise teacher salaries to be competitive with others in Jefferson County.
“Not for a substantial raise,” he said. “We’ve looked at a tax increase (ballot issue), but it would be so high it would be unattainable.”
So, district officials considered other incentives, and Gearhart said he and the majority of the board members wanted to try a four-day week in an effort to retain staff.
Grandview has 69 certified teachers and administrators.
“We’ve looked at a lot of different methods of retaining existing, quality teachers and attracting new talent to the district,” he said. “We feel the benefit of a four-day schedule will help us do that.
“We’ve had a turnover rate of over 10 percent. I don’t know how that looks compared to other districts. But, we look at our teachers as our biggest asset and biggest influence on student success.”
He stressed that, although there should be some cost savings to the district, money was not a significant factor in making the switch to four days.
Zoph said any savings would come from providing fewer days of transportation and student meals.
“The goal going into this was not the savings; it was teacher retention,” Zoph said. “We see our teachers moving to other districts that pay better. The goal was to give an incentive to keep these teachers.”
Another expected benefit is improved attendance among students and staff.
“Data shows student and teacher attendance goes up (with the four-day week),” Zoph said. He said the idea to switch to a four-day week as an enticement for teachers came from survey responses, adding that Grandview staff members are overwhelmingly in favor of the change.
“In October, our (teachers’ group) presented the idea to the school board,” Zoph said. “Our surveys show an 80 percent approval rate by teachers.”
If problems arise, the board can reconsider the move after next school year, he said.
Zoph said while students will not attend school on Mondays, staff will be required to take part in professional development during about half of the Mondays.
Gearhart noted that most holidays fall on Mondays, which is a good reason to make that the extra day off.
“We will also encourage students and teachers to have personal appointments, such as medical appointments, scheduled on Mondays,” Gearhart said.
Zoph said the district will make up snow days starting with the last Monday in May “and work backwards making up days on Mondays that we have scheduled off, so that the last day of school remains consistent with the original four-day calendar.”
Gearhart said 33 of Missouri’s 520-plus school districts currently are on four-day per week schedules and more are soon to join the movement.
“We know there are about 45 districts expected to be moving to this in the next year,” he said.