Pekin considering switch to four-day week

PACKWOOD – Pekin is the latest school district to express an interest in exploring a four-day school week, an idea that is catching fire in this corner of the state.

WACO was a pioneer in adopting a four-day school week in 2013. Cardinal switched to four-day weeks last school year, and Winfield-Mt. Union’s school board just voted in January to go four days for the 2024-25 school year.

Pekin Superintendent Derek Philips said parents and community members have been given the chance to take a survey on the subject, which asks them if they want to switch to a four-day week, if they would need child care, and if they prefer not having school on Monday, Friday or no preference. The school started that online survey Jan. 16 and will stop taking submissions Jan. 31.

Pekin’s School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC) found there was enough interest in the topic to create a subcommittee specifically to gather information about a four-day week, which included creating an online survey. Philips said more than 900 people had taken the survey as of Tuesday, Jan. 30.

The subcommittee, which consists of eight people ranging from parents, teachers, administrators and community members, will present its findings with the larger SIAC during a meeting on Feb. 7. The SIAC will then decide whether to make a recommendation on moving to a four-day week during the next Pekin school board meeting on Feb. 12. Philips said there will likely be community forums where the general public can share their opinion, though the dates of those forums have not been finalized yet.

If the school board feels there is support behind switching to a four-day week, it could make that decision as early as its March 11 board meeting.

“We’re trying to get the information out there quick,” Philips said. “This is not something that just popped up this year. It has been talked about since I got to Pekin [last year], and even before then.”

The online survey states a few reasons why the district is considering a four-day week, and they include increased family time, social and emotional benefits to students and staff, potential increases in enrollment and achievement, and the ability to recruit and retain quality staff.

Philips said being able to recruit teachers by promising a four-day week is a big part of the reason Pekin is exploring this option.

“We’re looking at anything we can do to get a leg up, especially on other rural schools. We don’t want to be the one who waits and waits. We want to be ahead of the curve,” Philips said. “Every school I’ve talked to, and I have connections at Cardinal and WACO, has said it’s been a huge success. Especially at WACO, they’ve gotten more teacher applicants.”

The state requires school district to be in session 1,080 hours per year, and Pekin is above that now. If it were to adopt a four-day week, it would have to make up those hours be lengthening the school day. Philips said it would probably begin classes 15 minutes earlier and end school 15 minutes later, but otherwise the school calendar would remain the same of starting school in late August and ending in late May.

“Some schools do the months of September and October on five days, and then go to four days,” Philips said. “That’s an option that has been brought up, of maybe going five days for a month or two and then down to four. Teachers would come every other Friday or Monday for professional development, but the kids would have that off.”

One of the concerns that has come up is what parents will do about child care if they work a typical five-day week but their children are only in school four days. Philips said that Pekin has learned from other school districts that they were able to solve their childcare issues.

“We want a plan on how we can utilize our buildings, and still provide childcare for our parents who work five days a week,” he said. “We have on-site daycare. The problem would be transportation, so it would really depend on the survey results we get back from parents.”

Philips said he would expect some cost savings by switching to a four-day week, though he doesn’t expect the savings to be major.

“We run 11 bus routes, so we wouldn’t be running those on [the day off],” he said. “You’d have employees working less, but we wouldn’t want to cut their pay 20 percent. We’d have to find a balance. We’d work with our teacher union to ensure that what we’re offering is fair.”

  Buy Photo

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