UPDATE:

Pulaski County Public Schools has canceled the school board meeting set to take place Wednesday, March 4.

PCPS says additional time is needed to create a four-day school week proposal; the issue will be reassessed fall 2020.

Pulaski County Public Schools has cancelled the public school board meeting that was scheduled to take place on... Posted by Pulaski County Public Schools on Wednesday, February 26, 2020

EARLIER:

Pulaski County Public Schools could become the first in the commonwealth to enter into a four-day school week.

The idea was presented for the first time at last week’s school board meeting.

As districts across our viewing area continue to struggle with finding teachers to fill open spots, Pulaski hopes a four-day school week could resolve that issue.

“The feedback has been surprisingly positive so far. I know it’s not something that everyone thinks is a good idea,” said Superintendent Kevin Siers. “I think it is an innovative way to look at teacher recruitment and retention.”

Siers said this year they’ve brought teachers out of retirement and hired long-term subs to cover large portions of the year, but there are still many openings.

“There are no applicants for positions anymore,” he said. “In the last 20 years we’ve seen probably more than a 50-percent decrease in the number of candidates going into teacher education programs.”

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports about 550 school districts in the country already do this across 25 of the states. The closest states that do this are Kentucky and Georgia.

Siers helped to put together a presentation of data on four-day school weeks to the board.

“Schools that have gone to a four-day week have seen an improved attendance rate, and improved attendance rate with teachers,” he said.

Ultimately, it would likely add an extra hour to the four days that students do go to school. Siers said perhaps they would tack on a portion to the beginning and the end of the day to make it happen.

Siers said state code allows for a four-day week as long as they meet the minimum required hours for the academic year.

Folks remain divided on whether the school week could be Monday through Thursday or Tuesday through Friday.

There are also disadvantages to implementing a shorter week. Lack of childcare on that extra day off, impact on extra-curricular activities and fewer meals for low-income students are just a few of those examples.

“I think we would be providing as many or more meals than we already do, it would just be concentrated in those four days and we could also open our schools on Friday, which we do for community meals, which we already do here in the summer,” Siers said.

A shorter school week is nowhere near a done deal.

“I applaud our school board for taking a look at incentives that might help us be more competitive in the search for filling our vacant teaching positions,” Siers said.

You can have your voice heard at a special meeting for this issue March 4 starting at 5 p.m. at the high school.