NEW ULM - The District 88 School Board will seek state approval of a plan to adopt a calendar based on four-day student weeks starting next year.
The board voted 5-2 in favor of this action, with Don Deslauriers and Patti Gramentz opposing.
State approval of the new calendar, if granted, would be for three years. The board would be able to opt out early, if it decides the change is not working.
The new calendar would cut student school days from 170 to 160. It is based on 24 four-day, 11 five-day, and three three-day, student weeks.
To make up lost instructional time, the plan would extend each school day by 25 minutes, with 10-15 extra minutes on each end.
Teachers would continue to work 185 days. On student off-days (Mondays), they would be involved in collaboration to improve instruction.
Voting in favor of the change, board member Patricia Hoffman expressed her hope that the additional time to collaborate gained by teachers would help research and apply best practices in education.
She stressed it would be critical to make a "significant change in the structure of the school day" - not just "piling things on," but also recognizing the need for children to move, for example.
Board member Susan Nierengarten recalled she voted against the idea when it came up last year.
At that time, she saw a need for further study and planning; that has now happened, she added. An effort has been made to get benefits out of this schedule.
Nierengarten said the School Board must make huge cuts.
While the calendar would account for 10 percent of these cuts, "there is nowhere else to get that percent, except cut more teachers," she added.
Stating his opposition, Deslauriers cited calls from parents who raised child care concerns.
He also pointed out his concern about what the plan would do to efforts to recruit "people for professional services" to the community.
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Reporting a facility team discussion, Board Chair Duane Winter said that two groups have expressed interest in the purchase of the District Administrative Center building and property. Each group has several people involved.
Following a discussion of future actions by the School Board, the facility team directed Superintendent Harold Remme to contact an attorney to develop a process for a potential sale on the open market, reported Winter.
Once legal opinion has been received, it will be shared with the board.