MT. JUDEA — On a split vote, the Deer/Mt. Judea School District Board of Education approved going to a four-day school week beginning at the start of the 2021-2022 school year, minutes of the board's April 6 meeting show. The meeting began at 7:07 p.m. and adjourned at 9:05 p.m. The staff has yet to decide if it will be Monday or Friday that will be eliminated from the school week.
After board members Anthony Casey and Justin Gilmore voted to table the matter. Board member Andrew Campbell made a motion to approve implementing the four-day week and it was seconded by Julie Black. They were joined by Clayton Heffley in passing the measure.
The board had held a special meeting at Deer a week earlier to formally present the proposal and to receive questions and comments from parents and patrons. Community input was also invited at Tuesday's meeting.
The school board called the community meeting after it received the results of a survey of teachers and staff of the school district at the March 16 board meeting. Of the 79 responses 27.8% were "strongly in favor" of the proposal and 27.8% were just "in favor" of it. Another 16.5% 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 main concern voiced by staff was for those students who would need day care that one day a week.