(Lake Park)– One area school district is having some preliminary discussions about a four-day school week. Harris-Lake Park Superintendent Gary Richardson tells KUOO news what it was that led up to the discussions…
“I think it was just a conversation within the board on picking up on what other schools in the state were doing and some of the rationale they used for a four-day school seems to fit kind of our line of thinking, and so we wanted to go ahead and start that discussion.”
Richardson says they’re closely weighing the pro’s and cons of a four-day school week…
“I think it’s an innovative way to approach teaching and learning, number one. It allows for some extra time for professional development as well as increased time during the day, so all of the standards we are required to meet would be met, the days would just be a little bit longer. There would be some efficiencies as far as transportation and maybe some support services, but I’m not looking at a lot there. I’m looking at it more as an opportunity for us to potentially recruit staff to a smaller district as well as an opportunity for us to focus on teaching and learning and increasing student achievement.”
Richardson adds they are still very early in the discussions and want to give plenty of opportunity for input from district patrons…
“We’ll begin with talking to all of the schools that are currently using the four-day school model and then we’ll bring that back to the board late spring or early summer and then if the board decides to go ahead we’ll start with some surveys and face-to-face meeting, which, with the potential of it being no sooner probably than the ’27-’28 school year.”
Members of the Harris-Lake Park School Board acknowledged at their meeting Monday evening one area of concern they are likely to hear about a four-day week would be the need for additional child care, something that’s costly and already hard to come by in the area.
