By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
During the Feb. 9 regular meeting of the Panorama School Board, Superintendent Kasey Huebner addressed the issue regarding the district’s interest in pursuing a possible change to a four-day instruction week.
“Everything we’ve done is on the website,” Huebner said. “One of the biggest questions we get right now is why Monday and not Friday.”
Huebner said he has consulted with other districts that have implemented a four-day week to determine which day off is best overall.
“Mondays actually make the most sense for districts. More kids actually leave early on Mondays for games, because a lot of lower level games start earlier,” he said. He added that Mondays are preferrable for staff development, too.
Huebner summarized the responses to the ongoing parent survey, noting that, currently, 74% are in support of the change while 26% are opposed. The survey will remain open until Friday, Feb. 13. Huebner said 115 responses have been received to the parent survey.
The district’s website includes more information on the topic, including results from the staff survey (62.5% strongly support, 23.9% support, and 13.6% oppose), the student survey of students in grades 8-11 (57.3% support, 42.7% oppose) and the community survey (57.3% support, 22.5% neutral and 20.1% oppose).
The website states the main reasons for considering the change are to improve teacher retention/recruitment and to boost morale.
In the “Good News” portion of the meeting, the school board learned about the elementary school’s celebration of the 100th school day. The board also heard about Mrs. Downing’s fifth graders’ learning about drones. A video was shown in which the students navigated flying drones around and under obstacles.
Huebner explained that the elementary school roofing project will be going out for bids in March with the actual work to be completed over the summer.
The school board’s next regular meeting is set for March 9, which will include a public hearing on the four-day school week proposal. The public is welcome.