Job applications skyrocket after Independence district approves four-day school week
The Independence school district has seen job applications skyrocket since it approved a four-day school week in an effort to better recruit staff, Superintendent Dale Herl said.
With the school board’s vote on Dec. 13, the district became the largest in Missouri to adopt the four-day school week, starting next fall. From October through Jan. 9, the district received 506 applications for teachers and other positions, up from 91 applications during the same period last year — a 456% increase. Herl said in a tweet he believes this is “largely due to the passage” of the four-day school week.
“Obviously we’re very excited about this,” Herl said in a video update to the district.
The Independence school board voted 6-1 to approve a four-day week, hoping it will be an incentive to attract more staff amid ongoing labor shortages. It’s an increasingly popular idea in Missouri, where more than a quarter of school districts now have the shorter school week.
Independence, with roughly 14,000 students, is the largest district in the state to adopt the model. And now another large district near the Kansas City metro, St. Joseph, is studying whether it wants to follow suit.
But earlier this month, Missouri Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven told the state board that the growing number of districts adopting four-day weeks gives her “great pause.”
She said she worries if too many districts adopt the shorter week, it will no longer be an effective recruitment strategy, “and we will have a number of schools operating on a four-day week, which is not typical for the workforce that (students are) preparing to enter in many cases.”
Independence officials said they wanted to capitalize on being the first district in the Kansas City metro to make the change.
Also at this month’s state school board meeting, president Charles Shields, of St. Joseph, questioned whether student learning will suffer.
“There’s a lot of concern. Is that the right thing for students? And is there any data that shows that moves us in the direction of greater student achievement?” Shields said. “I think at this point, there is not that data out there. But districts continue to move in that direction.”
Vandeven said the state education department is planning to study the academic impacts of the four-day school week in Missouri. Jon Turner, associate professor of educational leadership at Missouri State University, previously said that research in other states has shown mixed results depending on how districts adopt the model, and data is lacking in Missouri, partly because the concept is new for most districts.
The four-day week in Independence was met with several concerns, such as effects on student achievement, as well as families who cannot afford transportation or child care, or need additional services for their special education students on the fifth day. But others were happy with the change, saying they were excited to have an extra day off and feel it may benefit staff and student mental health, while also attracting more good teachers to stay in the district.
With the four-day schedule, the district will no longer hold classes on Mondays. School days would be extended by 35 minutes, officials have said, so that the district maintains the state’s required number of instructional hours.
Independence officials said they will offer several options for students on Mondays. The district plans to offer academic support programs for students who are scoring below grade level, so they can receive tutoring and credit recovery opportunities. Officials 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.
