Independence is poised to vote on 4-day school week, the largest MO district to do so
The Independence school board is expected to decide this month whether the district will move to a four-day school week, in an effort to combat ongoing labor shortages.
“We’re in a crisis in Missouri, and we’re in a crisis nationwide,” Independence Superintendent Dale Herl said during a community forum on Wednesday night.
“This past year was the most difficult year we’ve had in filling positions. The number of applicants was far less than we’ve ever seen.”
While most parents said in a district survey they would appreciate having the condensed week, some at Wednesday’s forum said they’re concerned about families who couldn’t afford child care or transportation on the fifth day.
Struggling to attract and retain staff along with other area districts, the school board in August agreed to study a four-day week — an increasingly trendy idea in Missouri and across the country. As of the start of this school year, more than a quarter of Missouri school districts, primarily smaller systems in rural areas, had a four-day school week, according to state data.
Independence, with roughly 14,000 students, would be the largest district in the state — and the first in the Kansas City metro — to adopt the condensed week. The current largest district is Warren County outside St. Louis, with about 3,000 students.
The school board is expected to vote at its Dec. 13 meeting. If the change is approved, the district could move to the shorter week next fall.
“This is about retaining staff,” Herl said. “We want to make sure we’re ahead of the curve. And also the work-life balance. The comments I get from staff members is that it would be nice to have the weekend rather than doing lesson plans, to have the time to spend with my family.”
How a four-day week works
Independence has instructed committees to study what a four-day calendar would look like, as well as possibilities for child care and alternative education opportunities on the fifth day — which would be on Mondays.
The school day would be extended by 40 minutes, Herl said, so that the district continues to maintain the same number of instructional hours.
Herl said the main concern he’s heard from parents is about child care, and the district has proposed several offerings for students on Mondays.
On those days, he said, the district would offer academic support programs for students who are below grade level, to receive tutoring and credit recovery opportunities. Herl said transportation would be provided for those programs. The district would also provide child care that day for a cost, as well as enrichment programs for students, such as field trips, job shadowing and internships.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 61 small, rural school districts in Missouri operated on four-day school weeks, said Jon Turner, associate professor of educational leadership at Missouri State University. This school year, that number has ballooned to an estimated 141.
In Kansas last school year, 25 districts were on a four-day schedule, according to the state education department.
Turner, who has studied the four-day school week over the past decade, said Missouri districts that have adopted the model have received more job applications, especially from veteran teachers closer to retirement. It could be one incentive, he said, to keep teachers in their jobs longer, after Missouri educators for years have reported fewer people entering the profession, and teachers not staying as long as they used to.
Warren County Superintendent Gregg Klinginsmith said during Wednesday’s forum that before his district adopted the four-day week, its teacher retention rate was 83%, but he saw that jump to 88% one year after moving to a shorter week.
“(In the St. Louis metro), we’re probably the first rural district outside the suburban districts. And so our teachers are making about $20,000 less a year than they can about 10 miles down the road, so our retention was terrible,” he said. “And so we had to do something to help our kids and get the best educators in front of them.”
Turner said that many worry about the shorter school week affecting student academic performance, but research nationally has shown mixed results, and data is lacking in Missouri, partly because the model is relatively new for most districts.
Community reaction
Marcie Gragg, a mother of four, said that moving to a four-day week would be doable for her family, with her youngest in ninth grade. But she worries about families in the district with elementary students, and those who can’t afford child care or transportation on the fifth day.
“It worries me that we’re going to create even more of a gap between our wealthier families who can afford this, who can get in their car and drive their kids there on Monday. A lot of families wouldn’t be able to get their kids to a Monday program,” she said.
Gragg also is concerned that Independence would be the first larger, more diverse district in the state to adopt the four-day model.
“I struggle to see us comparing ourselves to any of the other districts in Missouri to have done this,” she said. “I think we’re taking a leap into the deep end. And we don’t know whether you can touch bottom, swim or whether there’s a life preserver at the other end.”
In a district survey of families, nearly 68%, or 2,124 respondents, said that having more time for personal appointments would be a benefit to the four-day week. Roughly 54% said that they would enjoy more time with family, and that it could improve student and staff well-being. On the survey, 39% of families said they were concerned about the longer school day, while nearly 36% said they were concerned about the impact on learning.
In a survey of staff, more than 82% said they would be more likely to continue their employment with the district in a four-day week.
Kansas City area districts have gone to desperate measures to attract and retain staff this school year amid ongoing labor shortages. Some districts have increased pay, offered bonuses, reduced lunch options and hired virtual, out-of-state teachers to instruct classrooms of students on their computers.
Without enough drivers at the start of this school year, the Independence district announced this past summer that it would adjust bus routes so that middle and high school students must live more than 1.5 miles from their schools to be eligible to ride.
And across the country, several school districts have considered moving to four-day school weeks, hoping that the change would incentivize more employees to consider working and staying in their districts.
Kansas City area educators expect the staff shortages to continue in the coming years. Many have argued that years of being underpaid and underappreciated, plus taking on heavier workloads and stress following the COVID-19 pandemic, continue to drive teachers to quit.
Missouri ranks at the bottom of states for average teacher starting salaries, according to a report from the National Education Association. Herl said the district is looking at a variety of ways to improve staff retention, including providing its highest-ever raise to teacher salaries this year.
