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Shorter week cuts expenses
By Mary Madewell
The Paris News
Published October 17, 2005
It’s simple mathematics.
North Lamar Independent School District would save an automatic 20 percent in both transportation and food costs by converting to a four-day schedule.
But before becoming the state’s first district to go to a four-day week, the district must gain Texas Education Agency approval to convert hours spent in the classroom to actual days in school. Texas requires 180 days yearly.
Because of large increases in utility and fuel costs looming, Superintendent James Dawson says it makes sense to cut expenses as long as students don’t suffer.
“After all, students are what we are all about,” he said Saturday.
The North Lamar school board takes up the discussion tonight when trustees meet at 6 p.m. in the administration building.
“All the response I have received so far has been positive,” he said.
Dawson said the district continues to gain input from the community but that he has not yet contacted TEA to seek a waiver.
“They may tell me no right off the bat,” Dawson said earlier.
A TEA official said in May 2003 that lawmakers would need to change the statute to allow for four-day schedules. The comment was recorded in Fiscal Notes, a publication of the Texas Comptroller’s Office.
A strict four-day school week is not possible unless legislation is passed to convert the 180-day school attendance requirement into an hourly requirement, Joe Wisnoski, TEA deputy associate commissioner said then.
It’s simple mathematics.
North Lamar Independent School District would save an automatic 20 percent in both transportation and food costs by converting to a four-day schedule.
But before becoming the state’s first district to go to a four-day week, the district must gain Texas Education Agency approval to convert hours spent in the classroom to actual days in school. Texas requires 180 days yearly.
Because of large increases in utility and fuel costs looming, Superintendent James Dawson says it makes sense to cut expenses as long as students don’t suffer.
“After all, students are what we are all about,” he said Saturday.
The North Lamar school board takes up the discussion tonight when trustees meet at 6 p.m. in the administration building.
“All the response I have received so far has been positive,” he said.
Dawson said the district continues to gain input from the community but that he has not yet contacted TEA to seek a waiver.
“They may tell me no right off the bat,” Dawson said earlier.
A TEA official said in May 2003 that lawmakers would need to change the statute to allow for four-day schedules. The comment was recorded in Fiscal Notes, a publication of the Texas Comptroller’s Office.
A strict four-day school week is not possible unless legislation is passed to convert the 180-day school attendance requirement into an hourly requirement, Joe Wisnoski, TEA deputy associate commissioner said then.
“It’s nothing that has really come up as a hot topic in Texas,” the comptroller’s office reported him as saying. “You would have to change a philosophy in Texas. We expect 180 days of attendance.”
The comptroller’s report contained historical and analytical information.
The four-day school week was first introduced in Cimarron, N.M., in 1972 to save money during that era's energy crisis.
Though the crisis has passed, the four-day school week has remained and even grown in popularity, especially in the rural west, according to Fiscal Notes.
A 2002 National School Boards Association survey revealed about 100 districts in 10 states with four-day schedules — Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oregon, Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Since then districts in other states are considering the idea.
Most districts are in rural areas and have fewer than 1,000 students, Wisnoski said, saying that “small communities are better able to implement change.”
Fiscal Notes states that an hour rather than a days attended requirement gives schools more flexibility in creating school calendars.
“Some schools adopt a modified four-day schedule, alternating between a four-day and five-day school week throughout the year,” the report states.
The report cited Gardner in Colorado as implementing four days more than 20 years ago, but that the increasing demands of state testing prompted officials to modify their schedule in 2001.
Gardner is on a four-day schedule from August to December, a five-day schedule from January to March and a four-day schedule in April and May, the report quoted Gardner principal Julia Marchant as saying.
“This way we have a little more flexibility,” the report quoted her as saying. “They keep adding more tests, so the time devoted to taking these tests keeps increasing.
Pros and cons to the modified schedule are sketchy.
A 1997 study performed by Northwest Educational Laboratory and reported by Public Education Week stated that schools with four-day schedules report decreased dropout rates and student disciplinary referrals with student and teacher attendance improvement.
Teachers reported they had more teacher/student time with fewer interruptions and fewer days with substitutes in the classroom. Teachers also reported less burnout and more preparation time.
The jury is still out on whether the shortened school week affects student performance, the comptroller’s report states.
“The few studies conducted conclude that there is little or no effect on student performance,” the report states. “Several districts maintain that their students have improved under the new schedule.”
Opponents of the modified school week are concerned that young children won’t be able to remain focused throughout the longer school day, the report states. Concerns also arise about the retention ability of special needs children during a three-day weekend.
Although North Lamar could be the first school in Texas to go with a four-day week, Lubbock High School has been on a four and a half day schedule since 1984. Students attend longer classes Monday through Thursday with a 12:45 p.m. Friday dismissal, according to the comptroller report.
The school faced declining enrollment and adopted the modified instructional week to attract students. It also began accepting limited transfers with grade point average requirements.
“The modified school week is credited with attracting students to the school initially, but now the school’s academic success is its biggest attraction, Fiscal Notes quotes the schools principal as saying. Lubbock High in 2003 was the largest high school in Lubbock.
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