Four-day week advocates blame Hofmeister for 'unfair' requirements

"A group calling for an end to the state’s new four-day school week criteria will rally at the Capitol Friday morning accusing the state’s education leader of masterminding a plan that could lead to the closure of dozens of rural districts," News 9 reports.

Coalition fights new school calendar requirements

KFOR has the story.

Noble schools want to keep four-day weeks

FOX 25 has the story.

Poll: Teachers, parents overwhelmingly favor four-day school week

News 9 has the story.

Dozens of districts adopted four-day weeks to save money

"In recent years, school districts across the state have adopted four-day-a-week calendars to save money and recruit teachers," The Oklahoman reports.

Most four-day districts are in rural communities, especially near the border where teachers can find a higher paying job in the neighboring state. Ninety-two school districts have four-day weeks, including Noble Public Schools, a 2,900-student district that switched to a four-day week in 2015 as a way to save money without cutting personnel or programs.

Superintendent Frank Solomon said the switch resulted in improved student engagement and fewer attendance and discipline issues. "We're maintaining a highly qualified teaching staff, our academics are not suffering, and we're saving some money," he told The Oklahoman.

Hugo Public Schools in southeast Oklahoma moved to a four-day schedule two years ago to recruit teachers, especially as neighboring districts had already made the switch, according to Superintendent Earl Dalke. Dalke said requiring all districts to have five-day weeks would take away the in-state competition. "Unless the state mandates the change, it is unlikely we will return to a five-day week," he said. 

Noble school board member speaks out against bill requiring five-day school weeks

"Noble Public Schools board member Erika Wright said Senate Bill 441 wouldn't be easy on her district," FOX 25 reports.

The bill would require public schools to be in session for 180 days out of the year, where Noble only has a school year of 151 days. "What that would translate to for our district is we may have to let teachers go," Wright said. "Because of that we could probably very much expect that we would have larger class sizes."

Five-day school week bill could cause districts to add days to school year

"A bill to force all of Oklahoma's school districts to have five-day weeks could also require schools to add days to their calendars," the News on 6 reports.

The bill would require every school to be in session for 180-days per year. This means Tulsa Public Schools would have to add 14 days to the calendar and Union would have to add 10. 

Officials with other districts say they're concerned about the bill's impact on classes. A recent study also shows 81 percent of parents with children in four-day districts like having their kids out on Fridays.

Boren says stopping four-day school weeks ‘should be a top priority of our state government’

In Oklahoma, "far too many schools have only four-day school weeks," former Democratic Gov. David Boren declares. "It should be a top priority of our state government to stop this practice and fund five days for all of our children."

Stillwater News Press defends four-day school weeks

The Stillwater News Press editorial board doesn't like the idea of prohibiting four-day school weeks:

“We’d love to come do business in Oklahoma, but it turns out some of your smaller school districts are only in class four days a week, so we’ll have to pass.”

Let’s go ahead and file that under things that almost certainly have not been said by major companies.

Two bills are running through the Oklahoma Legislature that would mandate five-day school districts, mainly as even our Sen. Tom Dugger has said, because four-day school weeks make us look bad. We probably shouldn’t go into all the things coming out of the Capitol that have made Oklahoma look bad to outsiders, but we can address the school week issue with ease because we have several local districts that use the four-day school week. Here’s the thing—they like it. And whatever happened to wanting local control for districts?

The bills are hedged by the caveats would allow for school districts to remain at four days a week if they can prove it’s saving money and improving student performance. That the burden of proof would retroactively being put on the school districts doesn’t make much sense. If anyone had bothered to ask, they would probably have heard from many districts ready to share proof that the shorter week has been working for them, possibly even helping with teacher retention. And, once districts are able to prove this, and manage to stay at a four-day week, then what becomes of the national perception legislators were worried about? The bills were created to give a better impression of the state, right?

Wagoner school leaders defend four-day school week

The Wagoner County American Tribune has the story.

Four-day week? Dibble supports local control

"The Dibble Board of Education and I are strongly in support of local control," says superintendent Chad Clanton.

Four-day week helps recruit, retain teachers

"Noble Public Schools Superintendent Frank Solomon knew that shortening the school week by one day would be a risky proposition," The Oklahoman reports today. But "the veteran educator didn't want to cut personnel or programs in the 2,900-student district."

No one wants to cut personnel, of course. But taxpayers can't be faulted for asking: If Noble's student population has increased by 10 percent over the last two decades and the teaching workforce has seen a similar growth of 11 percent, why has Noble's non-teaching staff ballooned by 56 percent?

In any case, that's a story for another day. Noble chose to go to a four-day school week, and as The Oklahoman reports:

Solomon said the community response to the change has been "overwhelmingly positive." 

"I think that from a teacher retention and recruitment standpoint, it's been very beneficial," he said. "Who wouldn't prefer a four-day workweek over a five?" 

The switch has resulted in improved student engagement and fewer attendance and discipline issues, Solomon said. "We're maintaining a highly qualified teaching staff, our academics are not suffering, and we're saving some money," he said.

Four-day school weeks aren't merely a money-saving tool, according to Matt Holder, deputy superintendent of finance and programs for the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

"Most of the feedback that I've gotten is that it has moved from a cost-savings (tool) to a teacher-recruitment (tool)," he said. "It seems to be something that teachers in those districts like." 

Little Axe Public Schools Superintendent Jay Thomas said teachers in the 1,300-student district are staying put because "they're not going to go to districts with five-day schools."

More schools across the country adopt a four-day schedule

"This school year, about 600 districts in at least 22 states are using a four-day schedule," The Wall Street Journal reports.

Missouri district starts four-day school week

"Teachers were in favor of the change," Jared Leone reports.

Students see the benefits from it, too. "It’s definitely been a big change, but I think most of the students like it better," student Heather Weaver told the Sedalia Democrat. "We have time to do our homework and projects, and it’s nice to have the extra day to work on them."

Texas school district switches to four-day school week

The Associated Press reports that the local superintendent "is frank in explaining another reason: The new schedule, which starts in the fall and extends the school day by a half-hour, may prove attractive to parents in surrounding towns, and the district would benefit from the valuable $6,000 to $7,000 in state aid for each new student who enrolls."

McLoud district switches to 4-day school week

"McLoud Public Schools will be going to four-day school weeks starting in the fall," the Pawhuska Journal-Capital reports.

Since announcing in January that McLoud would be going to shorter weeks, McLoud Superintendent Steven Stanley has noticed a positive change in the applicants for the teaching vacancies in the district. “We felt like McLoud needed to offer something to make it a unique destination and since we made the decision, there has been a significant increase in the quantity and quality of our applicants,” he said.

During the decision process, McLoud Schools discovered several positives in other schools that switched to four-day school weeks. “When we talked to other schools and did our research, we noticed the morale of students and staff were much higher,” Stanley said. “The amount of students disciplined decreased and the overall attendance at these schools went up.” 

Why more school districts are switching to four-day weeks

"Over half of Colorado’s public school districts have permission from the state to compress their schedule," Sophie Quinton reports. "Most such districts are small and rural, but that’s changing. A suburban district near Denver and an urban district in Pueblo have recently grabbed headlines by announcing that they plan to switch to four-day weeks in the fall."

Many stay-at-home parents like the four-day school week

Bridge Creek teacher Jalaine Watham is a fan of the four-day school week, CBS News' Omar Villafranca reports.

"It has allowed that weekend time with my family, but I also really truly feel like it has made me a better teacher by being purposeful and looking at time management," Watham said.

Two-hundred and ten of the state's schools operate on a four-day schedule. Many stay-at-home parents we spoke to in this community endorsed the shortened week. "It's that extra day. You're like, I feel like I have a whole entire day with my kid," said one parent.

But state superintendent of instruction, Joy Hofmeister, worries about the long-term impact on students.

Four-day school week? ‘People seem to like it’

"Once a district goes to a four-day school week in Oklahoma, it’s tough to go back," the Tulsa World reports. "People seem to like it too much."

Inola adapts to four-day week

Inola Public Schools superintendent Kent Holbrook tells the Tulsa World that the district may keep its four-day school week regardless of funding.

Holbrook said some people argue that the four-day week is bad for students, while others see it the opposite way. He said the district would evaluate with the community whether or not going back to five days would be the right thing to do.