Checking in:
A glimpse at how 4-day school districts have fared after a month
DEKALB, Texas — About a month into the school year, educators and students at Dekalb Independent School District say the new four-day week schedule has been a positive change so far.
Principals and teachers report that behavior and attendance have improved already, while students note the improved balance between extracurricular activities and school work the schedule has allowed for. Superintendent Dr. Chris Galloway said the district’s student enrollment has also increased approximately 60 students from last year.
“I haven’t heard any negatives from our teachers or our students,” said Clayton Little, principal at Dekalb High School.
Little says issues with discipline and attendance have gotten “10 times better” than before.
“Students are showing up. We’re not having any truancy issues. Discipline referrals have been almost cut in half,” he said. “We are seeing quite a bit of positives so far.”
Fisher Pickens, a senior at Dekalb High, said the new schedule has allowed for more time to get homework done and participate in extracurricular activities.
He also enjoys the longer class periods, as it allows for more thorough lectures from his teachers.
“We only have seven class periods, but that means that whenever we have a lecture, we can actually get all the way through it,” Pickens said. “And it’s easier to focus on one thing for an hour than it is to change every 45 minutes. It doesn’t seem like a big difference, but you definitely notice that it is.”
Freshman Biology teacher Pamela Richards said her class periods have changed from 42 minutes to 60 minutes, which allows for her to complete an entire lab in a day.
“Because I’m a lab class, it makes a huge differ
ence for me,” she said. “I can do a full lab now.
“Before, I would have to have part of the lab already pre-done and students would just get to see the finish of it, or I’d have to start a lab and carry it to the next day, which can skew results. So for me, it gives a full experience of a lab.”
Mathematics teachers Melody Rich said she and her fellow teachers feel much less overwhelmed with the four-day week format than before.
“I feel that is true for everybody,” she said. “We’ve had one Friday workday since school’s actually started, and it was a time for us to actually be able to plan, grade papers and collaborate. I felt like that day was a much-needed time that we haven’t had in the past.”
Rich has children who attend another four-day week school — Malta ISD.
She says she’s been able to spend much more time with her family through the new format.
“I’ve gotten to spend more time with them on Fridays, so that’s been nice. I got to do some things with my family, and see my grandbaby.”
Galloway said one of the initial concerns from parents about the four-day week — childcare — hasn’t been an issue at all thus far.
“To alleviate the concern for childcare on Friday, we partnered with the Dekalb United Methodist Church to offer morning care, and so far, only one student has enrolled,” he said.
Dekalb, New Boston, Maud, Malta ISDS and Paul Pewitt CISD all started their four-week journeys on Aug. 8.