The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during a Nov. 4 work session asked district leadership to create a community survey about interest in a proposed four-day school week.
The work session follows a July request from the board, calling on district administration to create a possible plan for the model that could be brought to the community for input and consideration.
KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland during the work session shared a “hypothetical” calendar and a possible model survey to collect community feedback.
Included in the work session notes is a “Hypothetical 4 Day Week Calendar” that describes weeks running from Monday to Thursday starting in August 2025. School would start on Aug. 18 and run until May 21, and there are 15 Fridays that would remain teacher work days — roughly two per month.
A key consideration for a four-day week, Holland said, is that staff and certified teachers have to work 172 days or more to qualify for a year of retirement service. That’s why several Fridays would remain teacher workdays.
KPBSD Human Resources Director Nate Crabtree said that those days might not necessarily require full days to still meet the needs of retirement considerations.
There are also considerations for the number of days and hours of instruction each student receive, “another statute that would dictate how we move forward.”
“Right now, everything is built on hypotheticals,” Holland said. “Certainly different options could be considered.”
It will be the board’s decision on how to proceed, Holland said. A possibility would be to pilot the model in specific schools or in a regional area — “eventually, we’re going to have to solicit public input.”
Questions remain as to how such a change could impact students with special needs, what the change will mean for parents on the days where students are no longer in school, and the possible impacts of a longer day on students, Holland said.
Tim Daugharty, a member of the board, said that, as a teacher and a coach, the four-day week would “be perfect.” But, he said he’s concerned about young kids needing a safe place to be on days when they would be losing a directed school setting. He said he wants to see some king of programming to fill lost days, including the meals that would have been provided.
A major benefit, repeatedly cited by district leadership in meetings of the temporary committee that earlier this year explored possible benefits of a four-day week, is significant savings on substitute teachers and staff on Friday, as well as fewer absences from students traveling for sports and other activities.
In July, Crabtree shared data depicting an average of 125 staff members absent on any given Friday in the 2023-2024 school year, with a high of 209 on April 19 and a low of three on Dec. 29 — when most staff were already out for winter break.
Not all of those absences result in a substitute being brought in and paid, but board member Jason Tauriainen in a May meeting estimated savings to the district in Friday substitute teachers alone as likely between $500,000 and $1 million.
Holland repeated that those savings could be an advantage during this month’s work session, but said there remains unknowns.
“The question I get to is, ‘are you creating Thursday as the new Friday?’” he asked. “Are people taking that day off instead?”
Emerson Kapp, the board’s student representative, encouraged discussions of the schedule for a possible four-day week to consider students who rely on working after or before school to provide for their families and themselves.
The calendar can be refined to more strategically choose days off or better serve the district’s wants and needs as they coalesce, Holland said.
Also included in the notes are a draft survey that could be employed to query the wider community about the idea and supporting information about the number of classroom hours students require, the number of days of in-service training teachers require and an exploration of how a change to the school week might interact with requirements for teacher retirement.
Board member Patti Truesdell said she wants to see a good survey widely circulated to “hear more from our people.”
Penny Vadla, another member of the board, said she sees several potential benefits and possible issues with moving to a four-day week. Like Truesdell, she said she wanted to hear from as many people as possible to grapple with how students and schools might be impacted.
Board member Virginia Morgan suggested an initial survey that could be “extremely simple” — do people want to pursue this or not?
Member Kelley Cizek, similarly, said she wanted to see a survey that can “dial it in” and gauge interest before the board further explores a new schedule.
“I’m with the idea that parents are going to have a hard time answering the survey unless they know exactly what we’re trying to offer them,” she said.
Tauriainen suggested an opportunity for in-person public testimony about the idea, in addition to a possible survey.
At the close of the work session, Holland asked the board for their directive on how to proceed.
“Eventually this will come to a vote of the board,” he said. “If you are dead set against it now, it might be a good time to say that. If you’d like to continue down this path, having a survey and more information on cost and all that we need to refine during board discussion, I’d love to hear that.
“At the end of the day, I do worry about our working families that have one more thing to figure out.”
New studies out of some larger districts, Holland said, suggest that the four-day model could potentially not be as supportive of recruitment, retention and student success. But, he said, during the previous four-day committee, they turned up several sources that suggested benefits to the change.
“I’m concerned about moving the needle with education or with our kids,” Holland said. “That’s what I want my focus to be on. I understand that this is something that is coming around, and the board wants to explore, and I will carry that out to the fullest.”
Board President Zen Kelly asked for general consensus, whether the board wants to take the step of surveying communities. None objected. He asked district leadership to craft a survey for the board to consider at their December meeting.
Holland said before the survey is crafted, they’ll have to collect more information about potential wage changes, retirement qualifications and other factors.
“I think we have some ideas, based on the comments that we heard tonight, how we can shape something for the community, for our parents, our families, our staff and older students to look at,” he said.
A full recording of the work session is available at the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s BoardDocs website.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
