Cardinal school board to vote on four-day week

ELDON – The Cardinal Community School District is considering a four-day school week.

The school district’s board of directors will vote on the matter at its next meeting on Monday, Feb. 21. If approved, the district will cease having classes on Monday starting in the fall of 2022.

Cardinal Superintendent Joel Pedersen said the district has talked about this idea before, about three or four years ago, but decided against it. However, he feels that now is the right take to make the switch.

Instead of having class on Monday, the district would hold professional development days for teachers every other Monday.

“Principals, instructional coaches and teacher leaders will schedule how they want staff to use that time, using our professional development goals as a guide,” the school district stated on its website. “Four-day work weeks give organizations a competitive edge when recruiting and retaining staff.”

The school’s informational webpage on the subject says Monday was chosen because “Friday feels like a day off. Monday feels like a day to be professional and prepare for students.” The schedule change would allow the high school to continue with its normal Friday sports and activities.

The district says this change would allow Cardinal to attract a larger pool of applicants for its job openings, and to give its teachers and staff time to better prepare for classes.

Under this proposal, the school day for elementary students would last from 8 a.m. to 3:40 p.m., and for middle and high school students would last from 8 a.m. to 3:47 p.m. Pedersen said this means the school day would be 20-25 minutes longer than it is now. This schedule, counting the hours of parent-teacher conferences, would put Cardinal 30 hours over the number of instruction hours the state requires, which is 1,080 per year.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com