Pekin school board votes to stick with five-day week

PACKWOOD – The Pekin Community School District Board of Directors voted 7-0 Monday night, March 11, to maintain a five-day school week next year, and not to adopt a four-day week like some neighboring schools such as Cardinal and WACO.

Pekin Superintendent Derek Philips said that, after two town hall meetings and a few surveys that went out to parents and community members, the sense he got from the district’s residents was they needed “more time.” Philips recommended the district stick to its five-day week, and all the board members agreed.

“The board is still interested in looking at it [a four-day week], but it was not the right timing for the 2024-25 school year,” Philips said. “There are still some questions people want answered.”

Pekin’s School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC) formed a subcommittee to investigate whether the district should switch to a four-day week, an idea that has exploded in popularity lately, especially among school districts in Southeast Iowa. WACO was a pioneer in this regard, becoming the first district in Iowa to adopt a four-day week in the fall of 2013.

Cardinal made the switch to four-day weeks last school year, and just this year the school boards at Highland and Winfield-Mt. Union voted to go four days this coming fall. Other districts, such as Washington and New London, are exploring the idea as well.

Pekin’s SIAC subcommittee asked residents to complete an online survey in January about how they felt about a four-day week, and the results showed that 65 percent of respondents favored switching to four days, 25 percent were against it, and 10 percent were neutral.

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