Panelists praise four-day school week

A panel of school teachers, staff and administrators spoke at Havre High School Wednesday night about their experiences implementing and working with a four-day school week, which Havre Public Schools is considering shifting to next year.

The group spent the majority of the time answering drafted questions that commonly come up during any given community's transition to a four-day week, but they did answer some followup questions from the audience afterward.

The schools represented on the panel included Wolf Point, Big Sandy, Glasgow and North Star all of which have shifted to a school schedule that largely eliminates Fridays for students and extends class periods from around 50 minutes to between 60 and 63 minutes.

Panel members said these longer classes ended up being a major benefit to them and the students, finding them more efficient and giving them more freedom to do more involved classroom activities.

Big Sandy High School science teacher Melanie Schwarzbach said she, along with many community members was particularly concerned about how much they were going to be able to do in four days, but after the transition she found she could cover noticeably more material each week.

"I've had classes literally finish a text book because we have been able to cover all the material," Schwarzbach said.

Wolf Point High School Activities Director Eric Peterson, who teaches PE, said having four longer classes as opposed to five shorter ones cut down on preparation time, giving students more opportunity to focus on stretching, individualization and cool down.

Peterson said he suspects this benefit extends to more hands-on classes, and Wolf Point High School Counselor Erin Loendorf said more academic classes have also seen similar benefits when it comes to how they use their time.

Wolf Point High School Principal Kim Hanks said younger students, including her own child, did have some initial trouble adjusting, with the longer days proving very tiring at first, but within six weeks the students had completely adjusted and that was just their normal day.

Hanks said teachers had similar issues but ultimately adjusted as well, though not quite as quickly.

"I think your kids will adapt faster than the adults," she said.

This trend of momentary difficulty followed by quick adaptation is one that representatives from the other schools said they saw as well.

As for non-teaching staff, the panel members said it did require some adjustments, but they were worked out.

Hanks said hours for staff at Wolf Point didn't change all that much so it didn't end up being much of an issue for them.

Leondorf said the employees that were affected were given the opportunity to work on Friday to make lost hours up, and while some did, most decided to just enjoy their Friday off.

Glasgow Public Schools Superintendent Wade Sundby said bus routes did need to be adjusted and because they lost a day of driving they ended up raising the wages of bus drivers to compensate for that lost time.

Schwarzbach said their adjusted bus routes didn't cause much inconvenience for families in the area.

On the subject of buses, how the modified schedule positively affected students and staff involved in sports and other extra circulars was a subject of much conversation as well.

Peterson said the fact that Fridays were free for bus drivers made it much easier to get students to and from events and all the panel members said the elimination of Fridays allowed students to participate in events without missing nearly as much class, which all of them regarded as a huge positive for the schools.

Another subject of discussion was the initial pushback the panel members saw when discussing the possible change in their own communities.

Hanks said day care was a huge concern that was brought to them, and they did take some steps to address this potential issue.

She said they surveyed older students and found that many were willing and able to provide day care and sitting services, which many ended up doing.

She said they also implemented "Enrichment Fridays" where teachers that were at the school Fridays would give students the opportunity to participate in activities and workshops during the mornings.

At first, Hanks said, these days were very well-attended, but participation petered off as the year went on, to the point that no one was using it, because parents and students had worked out solutions on there own and it was no longer an issue.

In fact, she said, years latter when their school board was discussing the possibility of going back to a five-day week many of those same parents objected because the four-day week ended up being good for them and their children.

She said parents also had concerns about the affect losing a day would have on special-needs and struggling students but those issues quickly solved themselves, and many said the new schedule helped their children who had disabilities, making them more comfortable only having to go to school for four days.

Schwarzbach said having that Friday free provided an opportunity for teachers at their school to help students that needed additional help or were falling behind, as well as an opportunity to develop and improve lesson plans.

Other members of the panel said the same thing, that the fears of parents just didn't materialize, and some issues actually got better, contrary to expectations.

Teacher recruitment and retention was another advantage panel members discussed, with North Star Schools Administrative Assistant Carol Tempel saying it has defiantly improved the latter.

Schwarzbach said it is still a useful recruitment tool, but admittedly it is not as strong now as it was 10 years ago when they first transitioned to a four-day week, because more and more schools in the area are doing it, making it less of a unique selling point.

Hanks said much the same.

Cost savings was also briefly discussed and while some panel members said they did see some savings, particularly with substitute teachers, they were not significant enough that they should be a major driver in the decision.

Another area panelists said they saw improvement in absenteeism.

Hanks said absences related to school activities like sports have dropped dramatically and overall attendance in the higher grades has noticeably improved.

However, she said, the change doesn't appear to have helped improve the attendance of those students who were chronically absent. Those students appear to miss just as much school as they did under the five-day week.

While she said the shift hasn't had a huge effect on overall student achievement, the graduation rate has gone up and Peterson said the students involved in sports are doing much better than they used to because they are missing far less class.

Schwarzbach said their school has seen a slight but steady increase in test scores over the years, but said she doesn't know how much of that can be attributed to the four-day week.

One thing all panelists were in agreement on was how the four-day week improved the attitudes and motivation level of students and staff come Monday mornings.

Representatives from every school said the three-day weekend caused everyone to come back more energized and ready to work and learn.

Hanks said the change has significantly reduced teacher burnout and improved the staff's mental and emotional health.

Tempel said because their area is so remote people have to do a lot of traveling and having that extra day has really helped people out in that regard, as well.

As for students, Hanks said, many of them are employed and having that opportunity to work a full Friday has helped employers in the area who practically begged the school board not to go back to a five-day-week when the possibility presented itself.

Sundby said his school district received some pushback from people saying having a four-day week would leave students ill-equipped for working life.

But, he said, many businesses in his area were moving to four-day weeks themselves.

In addition to the largely positive outlook panel members expressed on the four-day school week, they said their process for discussing and implementing it is much the same as what Havre is doing, a process which it seems is going smoothly to them.

Schwarzbach said the fact that the person leading the process, Havre Assistant Superintendent Brad Moore, is the same one who led the change in Big Sandy bodes well for Havre, too.

Despite the universally positive attitude panel members showed toward the four-day week, some did point out some complications it has caused them.

While Tempel said her school hasn't seen any drawbacks, Sundby said adapting curriculum to better fit the new schedule did end up being difficult at first, though as time goes on it seems to be getting easier and easier having transitioned very recently.

He suggested that Havre Public Schools make that adaptation a priority if they decide to transition as well.

"You need to take a deep dive into curriculum mapping and really put a focus on that," he said.

Hanks also suggested that leadership support teachers in their efforts to adapt their lesson plans, which doesn't always go as planned.

She said efforts should be made to make it clear to teachers that if they encounter problems with their adapted lesson plans early in the year and need to go back to the drawing board, that that is natural and they shouldn't feel bad about it.

"Best-laid plans don't always work," she said.

Hanks also talked about one of her school's ongoing concerns: the way the change affects at-risk students, though it is an issue they are addressing.

She said there is a high poverty rate in her area, and having one less day for teachers to see their students is a drawback.

However, she said, they have taken steps to account for this, including sending such students home with backpacks full of food for that Friday when they can't see them.

Community member Tami Gibson, who has first and second graders in HPS asked the panel about how homework was handled with days being longer.

Hanks said teachers at Wolf Point use some of the extra time they have each class for students to get started on that homework, which allows teachers to get a feel for how students are grasping the lesson and reducing the need for students to do so much work at home.

Tempel said the issue of homework has been something the schools has been actively keeping track of, trying to make sure it doesn't get excessive.

Havre Public Schools Director of Special Education and Federal Projects Karla Geda also asked about how the transition affects special-needs students having one less day for the school to provide services, saying some students can only tolerate class for so long before they can't do it anymore, which may become an issue with one less day.

Hanks said it's an understandable concern but ultimately the students with special needs in her school just haven't seen any significant negative effects from the transition.