Pekin school board to hold public hearing on four-day week Feb. 10

PACKWOOD – The Pekin Community School Board will hold a public hearing on a proposal to switch to a four-day school week next fall.

The public hearing will be at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10 at the school, just before the board’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting. The board’s agenda includes considering the calendar for the 2025-26 school year, so it could approve the change to a four-day week that night.

Pekin Superintendent Jeff Maeder said he is recommending the four-day week to the board for a few reasons, and among the main ones is teacher recruitment and retention.

“In the last five years, that’s been our No. 1 challenge,” Maeder said. “A close second would be declining enrollment.”

Maeder said that filling positions has become difficult. He said that, years ago, a few positions would be hard to fill, but now that applies to nearly all positions.

“We’re seeing fewer candidates for our open positions in areas like math, science and special education,” he said. “We’re looking for any edge we can get to attract candidates.”

Maeder acknowledged that child care will be one of the biggest hurdles parents face if the district switches to a four-day week. He said the district is not planning to expand the Pekin Daycare, though the district will help families find child care by connecting them with local resources. He mentioned that a new child care center just opened in Richland, and it has openings for older students.

The potential change to four days would not have a large impact on the district’s finances, Maeder said. He said there may be some savings on fuel by running the buses one fewer day per week. He said the district was not planning to change staffing levels.

According to a Facts and Questions report the district’s administrators shared with parents in December, Pekin wouldn’t start its four-day weeks right away, but wait until early November to make the switch from five days to four days. After that, the district would have Fridays off. The total number of school days would drop from 165 to 151, though to compensate for fewer days, the school day would be 25 minutes longer, starting at 8:05 and dismissing at 3:45 p.m.

Pekin’s school year would still end before Memorial Day. Maeder said that, in the case of snow days canceling school, the district would make up those days by holding class on Fridays.

Maeder said there are a few things he wants the public to keep in mind as the board members consider this change. He said the possible switch to a four-day week can benefit students by giving their teachers more time to prepare and create engaging lessons for kids. The other thing he wants people to know is that the district has been collecting survey data from parents and community members for over a year, not just the last couple of months.

Pekin looked into switching to a four-day week last year, and sent out surveys and held public meetings on the issue, but ultimately the administration opted not to recommend the change to the school board.

“We feel like we have a lot more information now,” Maeder said. “We want the community to come out and share their feelings for or against this year. We’d like to have a great discussion about it on Monday night.”

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