Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, Jasper ISD will reduce their schools' weeks from the traditionally five days to four.
The school district cited teacher shortage and retention for the change, and conducted surveys with parents, teachers and staffers before making the final decision.
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John Seybold, superintendent of the Jasper Independent School District, says the change was motivated "by burnout among current teachers and difficulty recruiting new teachers."
He told Good Morning America, "Teacher burnout has been an issue for a long time, but since COVID, it has seemed to expand, and it's becoming more and more of an issue. The four-day week kind of makes it a little more manageable for them because there's so much pressure placed on our teachers."
Jasper continued saying, "As a school district, ultimately the best thing we can do for kids is put the best possible teacher in front of them every day."
Jasper ISD will kick off the new school year August 10 and will run through June 1, but the four-day schedule wouldn't begin until the week of October 3.
From October through the end of April, students would report to school only from Mondays through Thursdays, and teachers would use Fridays as professional development days.
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