2023-24 Calendar Approved, But State Could Take Aim At Four-Day Weeks

The Crawford County R-1 School Board on Feb. 16 approved the 2023-24 calendar, which will be the third year of a four-day week.

Superintendent Dr. Kyle Gibbs presented the calendar to the board, saying that he worked with a committee to establish the best arrangement. 

He said that some of the requests, like a spring break, were not possible. Bourbon axed the spring break when it went to the four-day week for the 2021-22 year.

“It was an inconsistent schedule and less instructional,” Gibbs said. 

Bourbon uses one Monday a month as a professional development day for teachers.

The school is closed for two weeks for the holiday season in December.

Bourbon seriously considered the four-day week for the 2020-21 year, but that was the return to campus in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Support was above 74 percent when families were surveyed in 2021 about a four-day week.

The district rolled out a four-day week with the idea that it would improve teacher retention, student attendance, provide more instructional time and quality time for families.

‘Under Fire’

Gibbs said Thursday that the four-day week is “under fire” by the Missouri legislature.

When Bourbon switched, only around 60 of the 500-plus districts in the state were on a four-day week.

Missouri voted to allow schools to introduce a four-day week in 2009.

Lathrop was the first to switch.

The four-day week was mostly embraced by smaller schools as a way to compete for teachers with bigger schools.

However, the idea is gaining traction among bigger schools.

The Independence School District, which contains 29 schools with an enrollment of more than 15,000, will move to a four-day week next year.

According to ISD Superintendent Dr. Dale Herl, teacher applications were up 506 percent after announcing the four-day week.

Herl attributed it to the passage of the four-day week.

Around 1 in 4 districts in Missouri now go four days a week.

The Crawford County R-2 School District in Cuba will transition next year.

The number of districts transitioning to four-day weeks has caught the attention of Missouri’s legislators.

Sen. Doug Beck (D-Affton) has introduced a bill that would return schools to five-day weeks.

Gibbs told the board to be mindful of what is happening in Jefferson City.

“The message is that teachers don’t want to be (in the classroom),” he said. 

He said that districts need to emphasize that the four-day week is beneficial to education.