School board members in Little Elm ISD asked parents for their thoughts on a potential four-day week for the 2023-24 school year to try and combat a teacher shortage.
Superintendent Daniel Gallagher asked parents to vote on potential academic calendars for the next school year. One of those calendars was a four-day plan, the other would keep the five-day traditional schedule.
The district said when the idea was proposed, it looked at similar-sized districts that have already made the transition, like Mineral Wells ISD, to see if it was a viable option.
"Superintendents were reporting higher attendance rates in teachers and students," Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Learning Dr. Penny Tramel said. "Teachers were in the classrooms more with the kids so the learning time was very focused and high-quality."
She also said the positives weren't all educational.
"They reported fewer discipline incidents because of that focus learning time as well."
Recruiting teachers has been a challenge in recent years, and the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the shortage. Asheley Brown, director of human resources at Little Elm ISD said a four-day week would help with recruiting and retention as well.
"COVID really kind of changed the game as well for the workforce," Brown said. "With the COVID pandemic, when half the world shut down, and corporations, especially in the private sector, were able to offer working from home and working remotely, all of a sudden corporations that were never having a work from home option were."
That's when Brown said many educators started to think that the rewards of teaching weren't worth all the challenges.
"We're having to compete not only with other districts but also now with the private sector that has this work remote-from-home piece that we're unable to offer just because of the nature of our work," she said.
Some parents in the district point out that Mineral Wells ISD offers childcare on Fridays for households with working parents. That's something Little Elm's plan doesn't account for. Parents said they need more information about how the plan would be implemented before they could give input.
Little Elm ISD is considered one of the fastest-growing districts in North Texas. Current enrollment sits at just over 8,300 students in six elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school.
School board members say after they consider input from parents, they will officially vote to adopt an academic calendar at a future board meeting.
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