By Anton Riecher
A reexamination of the controversial four-day school week proposal is anticipated for the Jan. 20 Devine ISD school board meeting, school board president Nancy Pepper announced during the board’s regular meeting Monday.
“At that time we will consider all options and make a decision on how we will move forward,” Pepper said. “Please know that the board is committed to doing what is best for both students and staff as we deliberate on this important issue.”
Pepper abstained from casting a tie-breaking vote at the school board’s Dec. 4 special session on the issue.
“I chose to abstain because the board is currently divided on this issue with varying opinions about its potential benefits and challenges,” Pepper said Monday. “I felt it was important to strive for full board support before moving forward with such a significant decision.”
Trustees Chris Davis, Carl Brown and Henry Moreno voted in support of the shorter school week with Davis offering the motion. Renee Frieda, Keri James and Alixana Buvinghausen opposed the measure.
Nearly 800 school districts nationally have shifted to the shorter week, principally as a means of recruiting teachers, saving money and boosting student attendance. Research varies on whether the reduced week translates into academic progress for students.
Speakers both pro and con took advantage of the public comments portion of the Monday night agenda to make their views known.
Teacher Emily Sadler argued that faculty is “overwhelmed, overworked, over stressed and what feels like unappreciated.”
“Teachers are going to school early, staying late, going to their classrooms on the weekends or taking work home,” Sadler said. “When teachers do this it takes time away from our own families because we’re taking care of other people’s children who we love just as much.”
Moving to a shorter school week would help “relieve some stress,” she said.
Teacher Melissa Gutierrez noted that 108 school districts in Texas have switched to the four-day schedule with another 15 districts adopting a hybrid schedule that utilizes the shorter schedule for at least a portion of the school year.
“As of last August only one Texas school had made the transition back to a five-day week,” Gutierrez said.
Teacher Rhonda Shelton told the board that districts adopting the four-day week report have reported improvements in morale among its educators.
“Right now morale is low,” she said. “A reduction in teacher turnover is a critical benefit at a time when retaining quality eductors is more important than ever.”
Teacher Kari Davis said she was also speaking as a parent with children attending Devine ISD.
“I want to stay here as a teacher,” she said. “I want my kids to be proud of being here. We need to keep the good solid teachers. They have several places they can go in this close area that would give them a different workload with a four-day work week.”
In other business, architect Bob Shelton updated the board on progress on capital improvement projects included in an $11.255 million bond issue approved by voters in 2023.
“In early October we did our final design reviews with the staff members at each campus,” Shelton said.
All construction bids for the various campuses are due by Jan. 16.
“At that point we will know the true project costs,” Shelton said.
