School looks into 4-day week options

    New to the Holyoke school calendar discussion this year is a look at a four-day week. Several options for both five-day and four-day weeks were reviewed by Superintendent John McCleary at the Feb. 6 school board meeting.
    McCleary emphasized that the four-day-week calendar discussion is strictly informational at this point.
    He said that the board had asked to start examining the possibility of a four-day week because so many school districts are going to that. Even if Holyoke doesn’t take that route, at least the board will have some background on it.
    Three five-day calendar options were presented. All three would see a half day of school Friday, May 24, 2019, as the last day of the school year.
    The first option is the closest to the current-year calendar. It incorporates three teacher inservice days prior to the first day for students, which  would be Thursday, Aug. 16.
    Calendar No. 2 is very similar, with the same start date for students. Five teacher inservice days would precede that, with one February inservice day eliminated.
    Calendar No. 3 would push everything back a week for a student start date of Thursday, Aug. 23.
    Calendar No. 1 includes 172 student-teacher contact days, with 187 staff contract days, while No. 2 has 173 and 189 days, respectively, and No. 3 has 167 and 184.
    With a minimum of 1,080 student-teacher contact hours required for grades 7-12 and 988 hours for the elementary school, moving to a four-day week would need to potentially look at a longer school year and a longer school day.
    For discussion purposes for the calendars presented by McCleary, Monday was the day off, with classes held Tuesday-Friday.
    Currently, a school day runs from 8:05 a.m.-3:37 p.m. This includes 386 minutes of instruction daily Tuesday-Friday and 336 minutes on Mondays due to the late start. There are 169 scheduled school days in 2017-18.
    Passing periods between classes can be counted in the school day hours. The total hours do not include 10-minute-or-longer breaks nor lunch breaks.
    All three options of the four-day calendar have a start date of Tuesday, Aug. 7, for students.
    Options No. 1 and No. 2 would have end dates of Thursday, June 7, 2019. No. 1 does not count passing periods and looks at a school day from 7:45 a.m.-4:10 p.m. No. 2 counts passing periods with school days from 7:45 a.m.-3:45 p.m.
    Both No. 1 and No. 2 of the four-day-week options would include 159 days of school or 1,126.7 hours, which allows for 6.5 snow days.
    Option No. 3 would see a school-year end date of May 24, 2019, with a school day from 7:45 a.m.-4:10 p.m., counting passing periods. It incorporates 151 days of school for 1,107.3 hours, which allows for 3.7 snow days.
    Teacher inservices in the four-day options could look at one Monday a month or every other Monday so they don’t impact days students would be scheduled.
    Other discussion surrounding the four-day week includes getting rid of zero-hour classes and putting them in the regular schedule. Also, the future of the Individual Career and Academic Plan class could be reviewed.
    McCleary pointed out that the Colorado High School Activities Association’s athletic calendar is expanding on both ends of the school year next year. Football and golf will begin Aug. 6, 2018, and state baseball will be May 31, 2019, which is after Memorial Day.
    A question was also asked pertaining to transportation availability for sports practices on Mondays if students who usually ride a bus aren’t already at school.
    With regard to cost savings with a four-day week, McCleary said it’s hard to know how that would shake down and whether it would actually be a savings for the district.
    More consideration for 2018-19 calendar options will return to upcoming meetings of the board.
    
Sprague serving term on CHSAA Legislative Council
    In another announcement at last week’s meeting, it was noted that board member Dusty Sprague was appointed to fill a vacancy as a Colorado Association of School Boards’ delegate on the Colorado High School Activities Association Legislative Council.
    He will serve until December, at which time he can seek re-election to the position.
    “I’m honored and excited to be chosen,” said Sprague. He added that it will be great to be involved in the real nuts and bolts of what CHSAA does.
    
Other business
    In other business at last week’s meeting, the Re-1J school board:
    —Accepted the resignation of 7-12 English Language Learner teacher Alexandra Balog, effective at the end of the current school year.
    —Hired Jacinda Krueger as HS assistant track coach for 2017-18, at a stipend of $1,861.
    —Noted the next board meeting will be Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m., instead of Feb. 20, due to district basketball action.
    —Scheduled a retreat Thursday, Feb. 15, at 6 p.m. in the board meeting room. Agenda topics will include the open JR/SR high principal position, as well as discussion on once again creating a junior high concept separate from the high school.
    —Approved the 2016 Public Employees’ Retirement Association audit as conducted by Lauer, Szabo & Associates, PC.
    —Designated the administration office as the official posting location for meeting notices for the school board. This is an annual designation, and no change was made in this year’s posting location.
    —Ratified the closing of school Jan. 22 due to inclement weather.
    —Held a work session for policy discussion following the regular meeting. Items discussed were policies on the superintendent’s contract, federally mandated family and medical leave, and salary schedules for certified staff and support staff.