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NLCSD Public Forum Considers a Four-Day School Week
By Gina Anderson
Mar. 7, 2024 12:00 am
The New London School District held a public forum on Feb. 29 to discuss changing from a five-day traditional school week to a modified four-day school week in the next year or two. There are several reasons for the District’s consideration for the change. They include the following:
- Teacher recruitment and retention. Teachers are becoming increasingly scarce. This would offer them a unique work schedule for the same pay.
- Improved student attendance. Appointments or trips could be scheduled on the off weekday, which would be either Friday or Monday.
- Quality blocks of time for teacher professional development. Teachers would have more time to really explore programs and practices than the 1 ½ hours on Wednesdays currently allows.
Superintendent Chad Wahls, Curriculum Director Allison Lair, and Principals Scott Kracht and Todd Palmatier conducted the meeting with approximately 40 people in attendance. After explaining that this is certainly not a “done deal,” they will take all the information gathered from the various surveys to make a decision that honors the community’s wishes while doing what is best for New London kids.
The audience asked many thoughtful questions. The presenters either answered the questions or took them down to get an answer.
The administrators went through an example calendar that demonstrated how a 4-day week might look over a school year. They also showed a MS/HS daily schedule that included the extra daily minutes that would be added to a school day for both teachers and students. They explained the ways this continues to fulfill the state requirement of student instructional time.
Mrs. Lair summed up the meeting with these words, “We are not selling this as a method to solve all of our problems in any way shape or form. We’ve got other work we can do to recruit and retain. This is a piece of the puzzle.”
She ended the approximately 80-minute meeting with a quote from the WACO administrator, whose District has had the four-day school week for several years: “We do well because we hire and retain great teachers. We create a place where they are valued and we give professional freedom to meet the needs of any and every student. Our scores have little to do with the week but everything to do with the people in our building. Again that’s not hyperbole, it’s a fact.”
As attendees filed out, they again were asked to write down any questions they had and they would be answered.
Everyone was encouraged to fill out a survey. This includes students, parents, community/business owners, support staff and hourly employees, and all NLCSD teachers. They must be completed by March 8 and can be done online. If one prefers a paper copy, they can be acquired at any of the district’s three offices.
