SLEEPY EYE - A smaller crowd, but still nearly 100 people, attended the final of three hearings Monday in the Sleepy Eye High School cafeteria as the District 84 School Board considers a four-day school week for 2012-13.
Board members said exit surveys made them hopeful of community support for the transition. The proposal is estimated to save $80,359 next school year and each year thereafter.
"This won't solve all our financial problems, but it makes the school operate more efficiently and is a step in the right direction instead of reducing electives and creating bigger classes," Board Member Ron Geiger said.
If the board approves the measure in two and one-half weeks, school would begin at 7:55 a.m. and end at 4 p.m., with an eight-period day next fall.
Not holding classes on Monday would add 14 hours of instruction time to the school year and allow core classes to be held all school year.
Bus pickup times would remain the same as they are now. Pre-school morning recess time would be cut to make up the difference, according to Supt. John Cselovszki.
Several teachers said they were skeptical about the change at first. However, after visiting MACCRAY (Maynard, Clara City, Raymond) and BBE (Brooten, Belgrade, Elrosa) schools - which have adopted four-day weeks - they completely changed their minds.
"One student told me they'd like to add another hour to the school day," said special education teacher Paulette Grausam.
MACCRAY Supt. Greg Schmidt said his district converted to four-day school weeks several years ago after deficit spending for several years.
"We did it only to save money. Now we have better test scores and morale and less drop-outs, truancy and absenteeism," Schmidt said.
He added that some students use Mondays for studying, for working part-time or taking part in Willmar YMCA Fun Day activities.
Schmidt said he estimated saving $95,000 a year with a four-day school week; however, actual annual savings are closer to $140,000.
One parent said she'd rather stick with a five-day week so her student could attend more class days.
Four-day week proponents countered that less is more with more instruction time over fewer days with less passing time before school and between classes. The biggest savings are in transportation costs.
"If we do nothing, we'll be in deficit spending by 2014. If we go to a four-day week, we estimate staying in the black another year. Doing nothing doesn't seem right. It's like waiting for the state to come in and control our spending sooner than we would otherwise have to," Geiger said.
Geiger said the district still needs to pass an excess levy referendum in the next few years to avoid a projected funding deficit.
(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).