East Union considers a four-day school week

AFTON - Changes could be coming to the East Union School District schedule. East Union’s School Board community forum took place on Wednesday to discuss the challenges and solutions that a switch to a four-day school week would present.

The school board had proposed the four-day schedule in February, citing multiple districts that are already utilizing the four-day week, including Murray, which was used as a positive example of the swap. East Union Superintendent Tim Kuehl, who is also the superintendent for Murray, said, “I’m gonna jinx myself somehow, but there have been no complaints from families around the four-day week at all there.”

Reaction

The community reaction has been mixed. Staff and students are supportive of the change according to a community survey sent out in the initial proposal in February. Results showed 69.5% of staff were in favor, 23.7% voted possibly and 6.8% voting against.

Students (limited to middle school and high school) voted 65.6% in favor, 21.3% voting no and 13.1% voting possibly.

Parents and community members were more hesitant. 57.3% voted against the change, 30.7% voted for and 12% possibly.

The main concerns for parents were in their options for additional childcare, access to meals and the quality of instruction with the change to a four-week schedule.

Childcare and Meals

With a four-day school week, the need for parents to find opportunities for childcare would come into question. East Union has already been at work building childcare services in the Early Childhood Center, which covers kindergarten through fifth-grade kids, as well as a scholarship program for low-income families. The ECC is also planning an infant-toddler center for a November opening.

Peggy Hardy, the director of the ECC, described the preparation already made toward preparing for the four-day week. “We have to think ahead, we can’t wait until the vote and say, now we’re gonna plan.”

This issue extends to the majority of parents with young children, particularly parents with children in preschool through eighth grade. However, the majority of high school parents who were in favor of the swap complements the data that 47.5% of students would use the extra day to work.

Access to meals is a major concern for parents. A typical meal program for these schools would be able to cover food for students throughout the full five days. Missing a day of meals with a four-day school week can cause problems for students who use these programs.

Shayla Findley, an educator with children who attend East Union, suggested working with local food pantries to send meals home with kids.

Quality of Instruction

The final major worry for parents is making sure their children are receiving proper education to prepare them for adulthood.

Some teachers and educators in the audience took issue with this complaint. “I think you’re looking at quality versus quantity,” Findley said. “You don’t have to have more time to be better, you’re not gonna have any quality if you don’t have a teacher in the classroom.”

The major push from staff for the four-day week was to help relieve teachers of additional pressures. Debrah Aldrich, a middle-school language arts teacher, explained how teachers could use that day. “It could free [teachers] up to schedule our personal appointments on that fifth day, when we’re not at school,” she said. That’s also going to lead to us to take less time off during the work week.”

More Concerns

Multiple parents brought up their own concerns throughout Wednesday’s community forum.

One parent was concerned a four-day week would imprint an incorrect worldview on to children, leaving them unprepared for the typical schedule for a work week. Another parent suggested that giving teens an extra day could lead to unsupervised delinquency.

Some community members brought issue with the speed in which the proposal is being brought to vote. Others were critical of the survey data, claiming the data wasn’t representative of the people it would impact most. A few were concerned whether the limited number of districts who have swapped provide an accurate view of the four-day week.

The school board will take action on the four-day proposal on March 21 during their regular board meeting.