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.
During the meeting at Deer, added time on the school bus and a shrinking safety net for at risk children were the main concerns voiced. The parents were encouraged to fill out a short survey available at the meeting or they could fill out a long form of the survey on-line.
While the morning arrival time at school won't change. The afternoon bus ride home will be later.
Parents talked about transportation concerns and time students spend on the bus. More buses and bus drivers will be needed to adjust or add bus routes. Vernie Heydenrich, district transportation supervisor, said way back when it was decided to pick up students at their home. He advocates bus stops where students would gather to be picked up and dropped off. Besides saving time it would save wear and tear on the bus fleet.
Many parents expressed the need for their children to be in school five days a week due to lack of child care, study times, meals, social interaction with other children and other needs.
The only other item of business conducted Tuesday night was unanimous approval of the use of Masters Transportation company fas the vendor supplying Collins buses that are designed as a non-CDL, multi-function, school activity bus.
