HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – A forum was held on Wednesday evening at the Havre High School Auditorium to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of a four day school week.
School officials from Glasgow, North Star, Big Sandy, and Wolf Point were on-stage talking about their experience with four-day school weeks, with Kyle Leeds, Chair of the Havre Public Schools Education Foundation serving as moderator.
Wade Sundby is the Glasgow District Superintendent. They moved to a four-day week this year after testing it out during the previous school year, and says that staff have positively reacted to the change.
“I think out staff, they enjoy this four day school week, they are upbeat. What I find in this four-day school week is come Monday morning, staff and students are rejuvenated. They are ready to go and ready to attack the week, so to say, and are excited to be back and see each other. That gives them a mental health break with out staff, as well as our students, to kind of decompress over those couple of days and come back on Monday.”
Melanie Schwarzbach is with Big Sandy Public Schools, and says not having formal instruction on Fridays has been beneficial.
“The kids who are really overcommitted…It allows them the opportunity to participate in things like Science Olympiad. I help with the music program and we can hold music rehearsals on Fridays. It just allows the kids a chance to kind of become a little bit more well-rounded and not have to just simply choose academics or athletics. What I find with having those Fridays is I get longer blocks of time to get to work with kids in preparation for science Olympiad. For that reason, I really like it. Because not many kids, honestly, are not going to choose Science over basketball.”
The consensus from the panel was overwhelming positive towards a four-day week, with benefits such as improved teacher retention and recruitment. One drawback that was mentioned was some difficulty adapting the curriculum and some bumps getting students to adjust to the shorter week.
This comes as Havre Public Schools considers moving to a four-day school week as early as next fall. A recent survey by the District showed that a majority of respondents favored the change.
A Calendar Committee tasked with reviewing this is expected to provide recommendations to the School Board at their February meeting.
