The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education on Monday considered a set of surveys gauging interest in a proposed four-day school week that may be distributed in the spring to staff, parents and older students.
The school board on Nov. 4 asked district leadership to create a community survey. During a work session on Monday, KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland presented three — with different designs for the three groups of stakeholders.
The surveys or staff and parents read similarly, noting that if the change were implemented the district would still meet requirements for both student educational time and teacher workdays. The survey is “intended to gather input,” they read, “and does not indicate that decision has already been made.”
The student survey, defined in the draft as being intended for grades six through 12, asks students if they have “ever thought about what school might be like” with a longer weekend. The change, the survey reads, “could mean longer school days but might also give you more time for activities, rest, or family.”
Staff are asked how a four-day week might affect their job and their school’s culture. Parents are asked how a four-day week might affect their family’s routine. The student survey is the longest, with a dozen questions asking how a four-day week might affect their learning, routine and activities.
The board asked Holland during the work session to make different changes to the wording of questions or details included in the draft. They called for more concrete information about what a four-day week would look like to be included for survey takers.
Member Tim Daugharty wondered whether staff would be uncertain how to respond without the district’s concept of a possible four-day model having been fleshed out.
“What does a half-day to a teacher on Friday look like?” he asked. “They might rather teach kids than be at an in-service.”
Member Sarah Douthit said that, as a parent, she might respond to the survey very differently if she were approaching it while thinking of her third grader as compared to her high school senior.
Holland, “only a part-time survey maker,” told the board that he took notes for all of their suggestions and will work to get the surveys prepared for distribution in February.
At the meeting in November, the board considered a “hypothetical” calendar for the next school year, produced by district administration, 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.
“I look forward to coming up with something that we can get out and at least see how the different areas of our district feel about the four-day week,” Board President Zen Kelly said.
A full recording of the board’s work sessions will be available at the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s BoardDocs website.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
