School Board discusses benefits, cons of four-day week

SPOONER — The Spooner School Board discussed the pros and cons of the district going to a four-day school week at their Committee of the Whole meeting Monday, May 6.

The committee brought up the concept at their April meeting, when Board Clerk Michelle Jepson said she had spoken to people in the community who were interested in having a four-day week with Fridays off. The impetus was that since the cost for the school bus contract went up by 7%, a large increase, a four-day week could help with the budget, along with possible achievement growth rates.

The board by consensus decided to begin the process of gathering information.

At last Monday night’s meeting, Supt. Dr. David Aslyn said a four-day week is “not a model that’s in place in Wisconsin at this point.”

Other Wisconsin districts have been considering it, too, he added.

One challenge is child care for parents, along with social and emotional well-being of students at school and any educational impacts. One benefit, Aslyn said, is the possible cost savings and retaining or attracting employees.

Aslyn said the most common model he found were longer school days Monday through Thursday and a plan/work day for staff on Fridays.

The board worked with an expert out of Missouri and found some regional districts have the four-day week, such as Lake Superior in Minnesota.

“They have been under the four-week model for some time,” Aslyn said.

Lake Superior did it for cost savings and then to retain employees.

The Carlton school board in Minnesota recently approved going to four-day weeks. Aslyn said they will be adding 25 minutes per day Monday through Thursday. There were concerns by parents, so the district will offer free breakfast and lunch and child care on Fridays at the school, and students can come in for extra help on Fridays with staff.

The Department of Public Instruction would need to approve a four-day week.

Board President Joe Weiss said he had seen all kinds of pro and con reports.

“The majority of them that I can see … is a marked drop in lower achievement from loss of time in school,” he said.

Weiss felt the district would have to add at least one and a half hours per week to make up for that time. There could also be a drop in retention for students staying in the district.

Weiss said a longer school day could also affect students’ attention spans, particularly in younger children, and any after-school activities.

“I do understand some of the cost savings,” said board member Meagan Benson-Moreau.

However, she added, the best place for children to be is in school, she felt.

Weiss said he also found modest transportation savings in those other districts with four-day weeks.

“Kids need structure, too,” he said.

Heidi Fleischhauer asked what Aslyn felt were the two biggest pros and two biggest cons for a four-day week.

Aslyn said the ability to have some operational cost savings and the ability to attract and retain employees are the two biggest pros, and the cons are disruption for kids and families by not being in school for one more day a week, and neutral to negative research done on four-day weeks.

“You’d have to really dig to find a body of solid research that says it increases student achievement,” he said.

In other action, the board:

Reorganized, electing Weiss as president, Nathaniel Melton as vice president, Jepson as clerk and new board member Andrew Melton as treasurer.Gave student Theron Barton the May Student Recognition Award for his outstanding work as the president of the SkillsUSA Chapter.Heard a presentation from Information Technology Director Hugh Miller on going to a new communication tool for parents and the community called ParentSquare, which would eliminate the high number of ways to communicate and have one overall s system.Discussed opening bids for snowplow services, 2024-25 board meeting dates (with a change to the regular board meeting to July 22), open enrollment applications and first readings of student and employee handbooks and Neola policy updates, and forwarded them to the regular meeting May 20.Heard the financial update from Aslyn, in which the district had $7.6 million cash on hand at the end of April, compared to $6.4 million last year.