DECATUR, Texas — Decatur ISD will discuss the possibility of a four-day school week for the 2024-2025 school year at a school board meeting.
The school board meeting is set for 6 p.m. Feb. 26.
Decatur ISD had an enrollment of 3,823 in the 2022-2023 school year, according to its website.
Other 4A North Texas school districts that have implemented a four-day instructional week include Mineral Wells ISD, Anna ISD, Gainesville ISD and Venus ISD, according to a presentation shared by Decatur ISD. Statewide, 76 school districts implemented a four-day instructional week and 13 are hybrid (or have four-day instructional weeks for part of the year or have independent learning days).
Decatur ISD surveyed parents and staff members about the possibility of implementing a four-day instructional week from December to February. On a scale of 0-10 (with zero being low support and 10 being high support), elementary parents indicated a 6.2 rating with a response rate of 47% (based on 1 response per student) and secondary parents indicated a 6.7 rating with a response rate of 39%, according to the district.
District employees in the survey indicated a rating of 8.3 with a response rate of 42% and secondary employees indicated a rating of 8.5 with a response rate of 49%.
Among the potential benefits of a four-day week the district noted were help with teacher retention and recruitment (Decatur ISD’s teacher turnover rate was 21.9% in 2022-2023, up from 20.2% in 2020-2021 and above the statewide rate of 21.4% in 2022-2023), and schedule flexibility, among others.
Among the concerns the district noted were a longer school day (the district says it would add 40-45 minutes for elementaries, 35 minutes at the middle school, and 30 minutes at the high school), childcare concerns, the district not providing meals for students on Friday (the most popular day to eliminate), no substantial cost savings predicted, impact on bus pick-up and drop-off times and more.
To view the presentation and proposed calendar options, click here.
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