Community meetings are being conducted to discuss a proposed four-day school week for the Deer/Mt. Judea School District. The first meeting was held at the Deer gym on Tuesday. A second meeting is set for 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 6, at the Mt. Judea Cafeteria.
A survey of teachers and staff of the Deer/Mt. Judea School District were surveyed and 27.8% of the 79 responses were "strongly in favor" of the proposal and 27.8% were just "in favor" of it. Another 16.5 percent were undecided with the remainder being "strongly opposed" or had "no preference."
Of those staff members surveyed, 69.6% favored removing Friday from the school week.
The survey results were reviewed by the board of education at its regular monthly meeting held Tuesday night, March 16.
Going from a five-day to a four-day school week is not seen as a big cost savings. Rather it does enhance recruitment and retention of teachers, administrators say. Schools reported fewer student and teacher absences and fewer days of having to pay substitute teachers.
The extended school day would begin at 7:35 a.m. and end at 3:55 p.m. Instruction time for core subjects will increase and there would be an additional snack provided in the afternoon. There would not be a reduction in staff salaries.
The main concern voiced by staff was for those students who would need day care that one day a week. Other schools have been able to provide the service through churches or by keeping the schools open that day with volunteers. Volunteers would be subjected to background checks as other school personnel, Napier explained.
Board members said they would next like to hear from parents and students, possibly in a town hall setting, providing COVID-19 protocols could be met.
