The Seeley Lake Elementary School Board voted unanimously on April 3 to change the school schedule from a traditional five-day school week to a four-day week structure.
Starting next school year, the new calendar will include 29.5 hours of instruction each week, with a proposed schedule starting at 7:50 a.m. and going until 3:50 p.m. Per state law, schools are required to provide 1,080 hours of instruction — 720 hours for kindergarten through third grade — over the course of a school year at a minimum. The proposed school year will begin Aug. 27 and end June 5.
Both the school day schedule and calendar year are still in-flux until the board approves both at an upcoming meeting.
The idea for Fridays is to offer STEAM education, or extra instruction in science, technology, engineering, art and math, 18 times throughout the school year from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. with breakfast before and lunch until noon. Buses will be available for transport. Fridays will also be open for students to receive extra support or make up for missed classes as needed.
For weeks with Mondays off, like Presidents’ Day, the schedule will move to Tuesday through Friday and as holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving come up, changes will be made as needed. Both STEAM and extra support hours are funded by a grant — the 21st Century Grant — that Seeley Elementary School has for the next four years, and school officials are confident in getting continual funds from this grant, unless things change at the federal level.
Two hundred and twenty-two schools across the state adopted the four-day school week by 2022, according to the state Office of Public Instruction. Seeley Elementary School officials identified this as a trend that started in the eastern part of the state, particularly among smaller, rural schools, but has reached west and been taken up by larger schools, too. It can be a way for schools to retain staff and save money, but brings up concerns regarding child care, nutrition and educational losses.
At a community meeting on March 27, Seeley Elementary Business Manager Heather Mincey said switching to a four-day schedule could save the district $30,000, adding that much to the budget for things like propane or electricity, which have increased in cost over the years.
“Our Legislature has not kept up with adequate inflationary increases for school funding for a number of years,” Mincey said.
Most of the savings come from reductions in hourly staff schedules, Mincey said, but extra time will be available for hourly employees to pick up on Fridays if desired, funding coming from the 21st Century grant.
At the special meeting, most of the school board maintained that the decision was not about money.
During the community meeting, guest school administrators were brought in to offer their insights on the four-day school week.
Both Principal Sarah Schmill of Potomac Elementary School, which adopted a four-day schedule 10 years ago, and Principal Kelsey Brown of Cut Bank Elementary, which switched this school year, did not see a loss of learning in their students. Teachers have been able to dive deeper into concepts and spend more time individually with students as needed, particularly with students that might be behind or have special educational needs.
Schmill said in the recently released state report card, which shows how Montana schools are performing using various testing scores, Potomac School performed 21% higher than the state average in the English Language Arts category and 16% higher in math. Brown said Cut Bank Elementary has exited more kids from Title 1 — a program designed for schools with higher levels of poverty — this year than the school has in the past four years.
Both administrators said the transition to longer days was hard for everyone for the first six weeks. But once students and staff adapted, there weren’t any concerns or problems.
Morale has increased for her teachers, Brown said. They’re able to put in four hard work days anticipating that three-day weekend ahead, which has been a way of keeping teachers in the building especially at a time when that has been a particular challenge.
“We can’t find teachers. Teachers are leaving the profession at a rate that is unbelievable,” Brown said. “We’ve had teachers stay on longer. We’ve had teachers push off their retirement. I’ve had teachers purposefully stay in the district and overall, the mental health of my teachers and aides, bus drivers, everyone has been at an all time high.”
Seeley Elementary board member Michelle Dunn said the main motivation behind the change, even while big changes are happening in the community — the closure of Pyramid Mountain Lumber, the area’s largest employer; the news of the current elementary superintendent leaving at the end of this school year — was teacher retention.
“Being on the school board and being a parent, I see both sides of the scenario,” Dunn said. “Being on the school board and going through teacher negotiations and learning where we are at with pay and benefits — we’re losing teachers and a (superintendent) this year. We do have to be competitive.”
Dunn’s children went to Potomac School before the family moved to Seeley Lake. She said the data and demographics surrounding Potomac’s switch to a four-day school week are closest to what is comparable to Seeley Elementary.
Major concerns regarding the switch were highlighted in a survey completed by parents, staff and community members and included child care, nutrition, the impact of longer school days on younger students and potential loss of learning. These concerns were echoed in the community meeting and at the special board meeting. Hesitations about the timeline and timeframe were also brought up at the April 3 meeting.
Samantha Arroyo, Seeley Elementary School parent, conducted research regarding educational loss in the transition to a four-day school week and presented it to the board via email and at the special meeting.
“The most concerning point of research I found is there is a measurable and significant drop in academic performance with a four-day week, mainly in reading and math,” Arroyo said at the special meeting. “While the decline was mentioned at the last meeting, it was not clear that these academic declines are not just a one time hit to our children’s education. They are cumulative.”
Arroyo’s thoughts were echoed by another special meeting attendee, Seeley Lake Lions Chairman Rich Westin, and daycare persisted as a sticking point. Seeley Lake Elementary School Board President Doc Welter said daycare continues to be a worry of his, and he intends to work with the superintendent to come up with solutions that will work for Seeley Elementary parents.
“This is a tough one for us as a board. We’re going to work hard to meet the needs of the families and the children. And I think that we can be successful at this if we continue to work together, and that the staff supports each other in this transition to a new work week,” Welter said at the special meeting. “I’ll ask you all to keep your minds open and to do your best for your kids.”
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