LINCOLN, Arkansas — On Monday, March 13, the Lincoln School District voted unanimously to adopt a four-day school week, leaving Mondays of every week open, making them the first in Washington County to do so.
Learning Services Director Jana Claybrook said that "with this help from the state department and the governor, there's going to be great retention, and recruitment— the 4-day week is going to really put lincoln on the map."
On Tuesday, March 7, dozens of Lincoln parents gathered to ask questions and express concerns about the four-day school week proposal. The district says that a four-day week could help with the recruitment and retention of staff educating their over 1,000 students.
Spears said teachers at all of its schools indicated that they support a four-day week, and staff overwhelmingly preferred Monday off. Schools will be able to use some Mondays as professional development days for teachers, or as teacher-parent conference days.
At that meeting, one parent said, "If we're reducing them to smaller weeks it's not preparing them for the workforce, it's not practical to encourage that behavior."
In Arkansas, 29 school districts operate four days a week—Superintendent Dr. Maryann Spears says the district has been talking with other districts to see how to make the shorter week work for Lincoln Schools.
"The pros to this are attendance increase —they've got that extra day off to improve their mental health— and discipline issues are a lot less," said Dr. Spears.
The idea is to have Mondays off, and an extra 60 to 75 minutes for the remainder of the days in the week. Dr. Spears says having Mondays off would work better for staff and students to schedule any appointments and help students who travel for athletics. Additionally, most federal holidays fall on a Monday anyways.
"They have a pretty packed weekend so taking a Monday off for them to rest and get back in the groove and start on Tuesday so we get four protected days of instruction. I think it's going to be a win-win for Lincoln Schools," Dr.Spears explained.
Some parents say otherwise, with one saying, "There are kids out there that need extra work, so you take them out of that environment one extra day... you just shot yourself in the foot because they just fell back, because I know with my daughter, I have to stay on her."
At the meeting, most parents' concerns were centered around where kids will go on the proposed off day. Those who are for the 4-day school week say it opens opportunities for help from the community.
"We can either create a program or have some high school students that are helping out with child care. I think when there's a need this community always rises to the challenge. so I think there are way more pros than cons," Said Lincoln school parent Heather Keenen.
Spears said that the schools are "prepared to offer something on those Mondays, we don't know exactly what that will look like, but we are prepared to offer something. Probably for at least Kindergarten through sixth grade."
“We have teachers that drive in from Lowell and Bentonville and spend an hour on the road each way getting to us,” Spears said. “That’s part of the piece of this. If we can do something a little bit differently and structure ourselves differently, hopefully, we can recruit and retain more teachers.”
Lincoln High School Principal said that "In today's educational world, we want to be the ones that step out and give something a shot to give our staff the voice and the choice to have this opportunity. I think it makes us marketable, I think our kids had a voice in this as well, I think there's a lot of people out there that will be excited for this opportunity."
The Associated Press contributed to parts of this report.
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