WMU approves four-day school week

WINFIELD — The Winfield-Mt. Union School Board voted at their Jan. 10 meeting to accept the recommendation to transition to a four-day school week for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year.

The district approved the recommendation made by Superintendent Dr. Micheal Volk to transition to a four-day school year. An ad hoc committee has been meeting since May 2023 to gather information on the pros and cons of the potential change and present the information to the school board for discussion.

The committee consists of Chad Venghaus, Dave Norcross, Adam Dickerson, Mark Peck, Cally Schlee, Tyler Stevens, Lindsey Pogmore, Paycee Schlee, Josie Nelson, Matt Nelson, and Karinda Wahls.

The recommendation to move to a four-day school week centered on four points of emphasis; teacher retention, teacher effectiveness, teacher recruitment, and student achievement.

The 2024-2025 school year will run from Tuesday through Friday, with Wednesdays becoming a full school day. Professional Development will now take place every other Monday instead of during the previous early dismissals on Wednesdays.

According to the release from the school, the “four-day workweek will give W-MU a competitive edge when recruiting and retaining staff. Lower teacher retention percentages have shown to greatly impact the overall performance in students. Studies also show that students who are subject to higher teacher turnover suffer in achievement gains.”

While this decision was made with the progress of the district in mind, there will be several adjustments for students and families to make in order to transition to this change successfully. Major considerations for families will include childcare changes as well as some families needing to also find nutritional resources for their children. According to the news release from the school, the district recognizes this will be a significant change and will impact parents/guardians, staff, students, and community members.

According to the Department of Human Services website, only three day cares in Winfield are licensed through the state to provide care: Heather Neilson, Jennifer Lemke, and Amelia (Amy) Liles. Two state licensed facilities are available in Mt. Union, Kimberly Fenton and Charlene Shull. According to the website, all five of the facilities are at capacity and do not have any openings. The W-MU district, at this time, has no plans to offer childcare on Mondays at the school.

According to the Department of Education website, just under half of W-MU’s K-12 students are at or below the federal poverty level and are participating in the free/reduced price lunch program at 47.2% of their overall enrollment. For parents concerned about nutritional resources, currently there is no information on if there will be additional resources through the school, the backpack program, or the Winfield Food Pantry available for the upcoming school year.

“We haven’t met yet to be able to discuss any of that,” said Barb Phelps of the Backpack Program.

The Food Pantry’s next board meeting is in early February, where they will be able to discuss any available changes to accommodate the need for additional resources for area families that may be impacted by the loss of a day of school each week.

More information on nutritional resources for families to access during the 2024-2025 school year will be available in a future edition of the Winfield Beacon.