Washington schools will hold off on 4-day week, for now

WASHINGTON — School district officials in Washington have not foreclosed the eventual possibility of a four-day school week, but say they’re no longer considering the schedule change for next school year.

The consensus comes after a survey of the district’s staff, students and community members found the majority of the 1,075 respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the idea, but that several (including about a third of staff respondents) said they needed more information to form an opinion.

“I think data shows us that there’s interest, but we are in March already,” Superintendent Willie Stone said. “I just worry, if we were to make a decision now, first of all, the turnaround time would be impossible, and we could cause a lot of panic because we weren’t able to answer all the questions.”

Stone said the schools would continue to consider the switch, and work to keep the public informed through community meetings and abundant communication, likely starting after next school year begins, in an effort to minimize confusion.

School board members said they agreed with Stone’s recommendation to hold off on any changes, but keep the possibility open for future years.

Board President Troy Suchan said he frankly expected more people would be undecided on the issue.

“Almost everybody I’ve talked to has lots of questions,” he said. “If we were doing this last November, then there might be a chance we could swing it for next year, but right now I think we just have people stranded.”

The findings may shape future four-day school week conversations, even if they don’t happen in the immediate future.

The survey found over 45% of the 269 survey-taking students would prefer a four-day model with Mondays off, but almost 80% of community members and 68.2% of staff favored having Fridays off, if a four-day approach were adopted.

Just over 10% of students said the model might hinder their family’s food security, taking one day off the calendar where they could otherwise eat a lunch or breakfast provided by the school. Around 6% of community members said they had similar concerns. Close to 30% of community members said they would or might “utilize school child care at a cost” on the day off, as did 22% of staff.

The four-day school week model has recently picked up traction across Iowa. Smaller districts say the extra night off appeals to newer — and younger — teachers they can afford to hire. Larger ones say it saves costs by cutting out a day of heating bills and transportation expenses.

In Washington, where educators have spent months troubleshooting “chronic absenteeism” in the schools, the change has some appeal as a way of getting kids more regularly into the classroom.

According to the survey, 33.5% of Washington students said they “would attend school more regularly” under a four-day model, while 55% said they already did so.

“If kids are at school more, they’ll learn more. That’s just a fact,” Stone said.

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In nearby districts, Highland and Winfield-Mt. Union have announced plans to make the schedule change in the 2024-25 school year. Cardinal schools, in Jefferson County, are on their first year of the approach right now, while WACO, just south of Washington County, has used the model for over a decade.

While four-day proposals keep popping up, the changes are not universally popular.

Stone said at least one Highland family had contacted Washington staff with plans to open-enroll their way out of a four-day district, and just over a quarter of the survey’s respondents said they moderately or strongly disagreed with the proposal in Washington.

One school board member at Highland voted against the change last month, saying she found studies showing five-day models were better for kids.

A 2023 study in Oregon from Early Child Research Quarterly on the matter found “minimal and non-significant differences” in student achievement among pupils who attended four-day versus five-day school weeks from kindergarten through third grade, but noted that among those who scored highest on math and language arts assessments in preschool, 4-day students scored slightly worse than their equally high-performing peers attending 5-day weeks. The study found no such discrepancy for students who performed at or below average in preschool.

Another 2021 Study from the RAND Corporation found that “student achievement did not grow as fast” in 4-day school week districts as in comparable 5-day ones, based on national assessment scores.

Others have expressed concern about longer school days, which would have to extend to keep up with state minimum classroom hours per year.

“I worry about the little ones having time added to their already long day,” said Koral Fuson in a letter to the editor published in the Southeast Iowa Union from New London, whose district is also considering four-day weeks. “At their age, it must seem like an eternity.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com