WINTERS, Texas — Winters ISD held a public board meeting Monday and voted to implement a four-day school week for students and staff for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year.
A calendar committee composed of members from each campus met and worked to create a calendar they felt would be best for faculty and students.
Winters ISD has been dealing with teacher and substitute teacher shortages and inconsistent student attendance. They’re hoping using the four-day week will help with those problems.
Superintendent Sean Leamon said the district has been getting a lot of mixed reviews but the main goal is to do what’s best for the faculty and students.
“My job as a superintendent is to try to do what's best for my staff and students. Sometimes you kind of have to think outside the box, and I'm hoping that's kind of how people see this and you know, there's been some kickback and things, you know, you never know what you will try. So that's kind of what led to this whole kind of crazy idea, I guess,” Leamon said.
Some key factors mentioned in the meeting included the adjustment to the length of the school day, state requirements for staff and students and where student’s will go for their “off” day.
Faculty members are committed to creating Friday programs aimed at ensuring students are still preparing for their extracurricular activities and receiving academic tutoring. One major program will be a Winters ISD After School Center for Education. It is open for five hours every Friday during the summer.
Leamon said he’s spoken to a handful of other districts including Athens and Rule ISDs which have implemented the four-day school week. He said they believe it has opened up a lot of doors for the teachers to recuperate from the classroom and also gives students more time to get tutoring.
“I wish there was more community involvement in this idea so we could all have a better understanding. While there’s still concern about working parents and things like that, this could still be one of the best things that has happened to Winters,” Winters resident Paul Earhart added.
The vote passed by the Winters School Board was 6-0.