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Independence, don’t rush students to a 4-day school week. Parents still have questions

There isn’t evidence that the Independence School District’s proposed move to a four-day school week would notably improve overall student performance — nor that it would hurt it. But data from elsewhere in Missouri and other states shows it’s not a move getting big support from parents with elementary school-age children, low-income families, and those with children who have physical or learning challenges.

So why do this? School officials want to reduce the number of instruction days as an incentive to help attract and retain teachers at a time when finding and keeping quality staff are some of the greatest challenges facing districts here and across the country.

We’re in the midst of a teacher shortage and it’s growing worse because teachers, underpaid and targeted by those bent on unraveling public education, are “leaving the profession in droves,” said Jon Turner, a Missouri State University researcher who has studied the four-day school week for several years. Meanwhile, fewer college graduates are seeking jobs in our nation’s classrooms.

Granted, public schools cannot survive without teachers. Still, we question whether whittling away at the school week — giving students fewer instruction days — is the best solution to the problem. What long-term effects that might have on our nation’s competitive place in the global market is not known.

Child care a major concern

Parents who work five days a week and may not have family child care options are worried about who will watch their elementary school children, and they wonder if they could afford it. The district has child care for infants and toddlers at $210 a week, and that won’t be impacted. It’s also starting one-day care at $40 for regular attendance and $55 a day for every once in a while.

The Independence School District, to its credit, provided an information-packed listening session for parents, staff and the community this week. But Superintendent Dale Herl conceded there are still many questions without answers. We think those questions must first be addressed and presented to the school community before the district further contemplates moving forward with this plan, proposed to begin at the start of the 2023-2024 school year.

Fortunately, Missouri law protects the amount of time students must spend in school — 1,044 hours a school year. With adjustments made to lunch time and hall passing time, a four-day week means children would spend roughly 40 minutes more in school Tuesday through Friday to meet the state requirement. Start and end times have not been determined.

While no traditional broad instruction is to be offered on Mondays, school meals would be provided in select locations, as well as some enrichment programs, clubs, field trips, tutoring and opportunities for students to do job shadowing on most days. But those offerings have not been ironed out. For sure though, students won’t have to participate, so there’s no guarantee any of this would improve academic performance. But of course it could for some.

Teachers get the day off unless they elect to supervise Monday enrichment, for which they could earn extra pay. One Monday a month will likely be used for staff professional development, which the district insists would have a positive impact on instruction.

It’s clear after Independence’s two-hour listening session that the four-day week is not proposed to benefit students or their parents, but rather to give teachers more time with their families, more time to dispense of work they bring home and to lure good teachers working a five-day week elsewhere to Independence. It’s right at the top of the plan’s slide show on the district website: “a strategy to recruit and retain high quality teachers.”

Independence has three pre-K classrooms that couldn’t be staffed, and the district is five special education teachers short. German is offered online since the part-time position couldn’t be staffed. Two physical education and two science positions are vacant. Substitute teachers are so hard to come by that “rarely are we in a situation where we are able to cover every classroom with a substitute teacher when it’s needed,” said Megan Murphy, district spokesperson.

25 states on reduced calendar

Four-day school is not a new concept. Twenty-five states have at least one district on a four-day calendar, including Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado, where 20% of schools have shortened their school week. Of Missouri’s 518 school districts, 141 rural ones — 27% — are already on a four-day schedule. Independence would be the first suburban district and the largest in the state to go this route. Only one district, Lexington, tried the four-day concept and rejected it to return to five days a week.

Turner says it’s “unclear whether the shorter week drives teacher retention or improves staff or teacher daily attendance.” But there is evidence in rural areas of an increase in applications — not from new teachers, but from veterans coming from five-day schools. There’s no data yet to support whether a larger suburban Missouri district, like Independence, would see the same results.

The four-day week might very well prove to be a good thing for addressing the teacher shortage. But we argue it could also have unintended consequences — a less educated population, families burdened with unexpected child care expenses, and a chipping away at public education, which is a vital common good and one of America’s true successes.

Why not demand more respect for teachers and pay them more? The state ranks among the lowest in the nation in teacher pay even after a small raise in those salaries in 2022. Missouri has a $6 billion surplus this year. Invest it in education.

Quality public education a major accomplishment

The district has — as is proper — worked overtime to thoroughly explore the full impact of such a fundamental change that would significantly alter an institution so fundamental to our democracy. There have been few achievements in American history as important to our progress as the successful incorporation of community-wide, quality, free and compulsory school.

Independence officials said they have been discussing the idea for more than a year. But the decision must be driven by data and there still remain too many unanswered questions about the impact a four-day week might have on students, families and schools overall.

Mark Robison, the father of two elementary school students, attended the session dead set against a four-day week. He left with “mixed feelings,” as did others we spoke to. “I think they made a good argument, but I’m not completely convinced,” he said. “I understand their drive for it but I still want more information.” He wants the district to slow down.

We agree. The district should not move quickly, and not because four-day weeks are trending elsewhere. The main purpose ought to be whether it improves academic performance because the education of our children is primary.

There are many promising aspects of this plan — the need to improve the working conditions for teachers is real. But so is the need to avoid disinvesting in the fundamental quality of student experience in our classroom. Proceed with caution.