Pekin school board votes down four-day week

PACKWOOD – The Pekin Community School District Board of Directors voted unanimously against a proposal to switch to a four-day school week.

The board considered the proposal during its meeting Monday, Feb. 10. The idea to switch from a five-day to four-day week was recommended both by Pekin’s School Improvement Advisory Committee, comprising parents, students and staff, and its Calendar Committee, comprising staff and administrators from the elementary and secondary school buildings.

Pekin Superintendent Jeff Maeder told The Union in the weeks leading up to the vote that he was recommending the change to improve the district’s ability to attract and retain teachers, and that this would have a spillover effect and be good for students, too.

School board president J.J. Greiner said he voted against the four-day proposal because there were still too many unanswered questions.

“We haven’t answered the food insecurity element for the four-day week,” Greiner said. “Daycare is another big thing. We’re out here in the middle of nowhere, and our daycare is full. Trying to find daycare for kids is a big thing.”

Greiner said his decision boiled down to answering the question, “Is it best for kids?”

“I’m not to the point where I see it as best for all kids,” he said.

Greiner agreed with the proponents of the idea that teacher recruitment is a big problem.

“I don’t know if this would have been the answer to that,” he said. “It might have been, but it just wasn’t there for me.”

Greiner said that the staff and committees that worked on this proposal deserve thanks.

“It was probably the hardest decision the school board has had to make,” he said. “There are no hard feelings.”

The school board did not approve a calendar at its meeting Monday. Maeder said he and the Calendar Committee will meet as soon as possible to consider other ideas, such as offering an early dismissal once a week as a middle ground between the four- and five-day weeks. He said the committee will also consider a traditional five-day week.

“We’ll give the board a couple of options to look at,” Maeder said.

Maeder said he felt the committees that worked on the four-day proposal were transparent and tried hard to get the details right.

“The process was thorough, and the board gave it fair consideration,” Maeder said. “The board had a lot of information to look at, and I think they gave it a fair look, and in the end they thought it wasn’t what was best for our district.”

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