BOWIE COUNTY, Texas (KTAL/KMSS) – The De Kalb Independent School District Board of Trustees has approved moving to a four-day school week starting next school year.
School leaders say they believe the move will improve the retention of teachers.
“When we looked at the research and the data, we do think that we’re going to see an increase in teacher morale as well as work-life balance for teachers,” said De Kalb ISD Superintendent Chris Galloway.
Galloway brought the idea back to Bowie County after attending an education conference in Austin, Texas earlier this year. He said results of a survey showed 68% of teachers this year have considered leaving education altogether because of the stress.
A recent De Kalb ISD survey showed that 97.2% of staff members favored the four-day option. Middle school teacher Joshua Sciara says he’s looking forward to the new schedule.
“Being able to provide that time to teachers and especially in my life as someone who is looking forward to introducing a new baby into this world, that’s something that would help me tremendously,” Sciara said.
Sciara says the extra day outside of the classroom will give him time to do things like lesson planning, contacting parents, and grading.
“Time is a big thing. There’s a lot that goes into a teacher’s lifestyle, a lot that goes into the work to being a teacher that oftentimes is behind the scenes. Oftentimes, people say that 90 percent of the work of a teacher happens before a class even starts.”
The new schedule will add 30 minutes to the end of the school day, with dismissal at approximately 4 p.m. Students would be off on Friday except on weeks with a Monday holiday, and teachers would work every other Friday for planning, grading, and similar work.
Cassie Rauleston is a parent of two kids in Dekalb ISD, and she says she’s also excited about the move.
“I think that our kids have a jampacked schedule and so I think it would be nice to just have that extra day maybe for some downtime or just extra family time.”
New Boston ISD is expected to vote on the same topic Thursday, April 21.
