Covid has affected us in so many unexpected ways: our work life, social life, and school life. And some of the new ways that were introduced to us through Covid don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Some things are here to stay.
Many companies are now allowing employees to work from home permanently. And school is so exception to escaping Covid’s effects throughout the country.
In addition to the virtual learning that the entire nation was forced to do in March of 2020, many schools began four-day school weeks in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years, as Covid was still lingering around. And having every Friday off is not something easy to walk away from.
According to research conducted by Education Finance & Policy, 1,600 school districts have now adopted four-day school weeks. Back in January, Florida approved the academic calendars for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 in which the official school week is four days.
Moreover, in March, Hull-Daisetta Independent School District (ISD) in Southeast Texas decided to go four days for the 2022-2023 school year. The Mineral Wells ISD in Texas has also decided to transition to a four-day school week in the 2022-2023 school year. Mineral Wells was hit with a couple of hurdles at the end of the 2021-2022 school year, almost forcing them to make some fundamental changes.
At the end of last April, Mineral Wells lost one of its best teachers. Thereafter, it lost six more teachers in a short span of only ten days in early May. Administrators later learned that teachers were quitting and opting to work at other districts that offered a four-day work week.
“We started losing teachers to that four-day school week regardless of what we paid,” David Tarver said, assistant superintendent of Mineral Wells ISD. “This was a big eye-opener.”
Mineral Wells was left with little choice after losing teachers to its competitor. The district serves around 3,000 students and could not afford to lose any more teachers.
“We had teachers that had multiple offers,” Tarver said. “We gained some leverage on being able to recruit teachers.”
And it’s not just Texas that’s feeling the teacher burnout. It’s across the country.
Nevada currently has 3,000 unfilled teaching positions. In the 2021-2022 school year, Illinois had 2,040 teacher positions that were either unfilled or filled with unqualified employees in 88% of school districts across the state.
And Minnesota is not too far behind in the teacher shortage. “I can tell you, there is a real staffing shortage,” Deb Henton said, executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Admininstrators. “What you hear is true. Many districts are still working to fill positions.”
Minnesota permits hiring teachers without even having a license in teaching, as long as they have a bachelor’s degree. For inexperienced teachers, school systems in St. Paul offer mentoring and on-the-job training. As of last September, Anoka-Hennepin school district had 175 vacant positions. Perhaps places like Minnesota, Nevada and Illinois can take lessons from Texas and Florida with a four-day school week incentive.
“I have never seen it this bad,” said Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). “Right now it’s number one on the list of issues that are concerning school districts.”
While districts in Texas and others have resorted to four days, the lingering questions for parents is the effectiveness of four days versus the traditional five days. As for Polk School District in Florida, it has two years to prove that four days is just as effective. The school week in that district is officially four days in the 2022-2023 and the 2023-2024 school years.
Studies on the academic achievement of pupils in four-day schools have produced a wide range of findings. For instance, students in Colorado who attended four-day schools had greater results in math and language arts than students in Oregan. In other cases, it was the opposite.
Time may give us the answer as to whether a four-day school week is as effective as a five-day. But in the meantime, teacher burnout may be mitigated in certain districts, as they enjoy sleeping in on Friday mornings.
