Baxter moving to the 4-day school week in 2025-26-NewTon Daily News

In a unanimous decision, the Baxter Community School Board approved a four-day school week for the school year 2025-26 at its meeting in February. With an average of 70 to 80 percent of feedback, which were either neutral or in favor of the switch, the district was strongly supported to make the change.

“It is a big undertaking and a big change,” said Baxter's superintendent, Chris Petersen.

The idea started to draw for four days in September, said Petersen. Together with his administrative team and the school authority, Petersen began to examine what a four -day school week would look like for the Baxter community. A great driver for the district was a sales in the teaching staff.

“While we have to improve student results and what we can offer for students, we want us to have consistently noticed in the past three or four years that we turn around 25 to 30 percent of our employees (every year). In the last school year we had to fill out 14 apprenticeships and nine of these positions either have no applicants or one, ”said Petersen. “One of the things we talked about was how we children offer the best education that is directly connected to the provision of high -quality teachers and how we offer children consistency, which means how we keep these teachers.”

When considering data, Petersen found that many teachers Baxter left in higher payment positions in the greater moin area. With public school districts that increase around 2 percent from the financing of the state legislature, he knew that Baxter would not be able to reach the larger districts.

“We have started to see if we can do something to achieve competitive conditions to get high -quality teachers,” said Petersen.

Petersen found Martensdale-St. Marys comparable to Baxter as a closure. With similar sizes of the students, with open registration numbers and distances from the U -Bahn areas, it was a good place to find out how this could affect Baxter.

“I spent a lot of time asking questions with your superintendent and learning the process you used, which we again used when we plan our planning,” said Petersen. “The most important thing is that I asked him:” Has the retention changed for you when you made the move? “He said a year before switching that they had 15 openings. As soon as they made the move, they only had three openings.”

If you take a closer look at the data before the switch, Martensdale-St. Marys opened four elementary positions and only received six applications. Next year, the district had two basic openings with 19 applications for one position and 16 for the other after moving to four days.

“It was a fairly drastic change in her applicant pool,” said Petersen.

When the management teams go ahead with research, they contact the community and receive opinions from locals about how they felt about the change. In December an information meeting with around 150 people took place in December. A survey of 2024 was also made available to everyone in the community to learn opinions and concerns about the idea.

“We let people know early on that it will really not be a decision by the school authority or a superintendent. It is based on the data we receive from the parents and the public, ”said Petersen. “The initial survey data went into play. And even with a second survey, she either remained neutral or favor with 75 to 80 percent of people.”

The district published a FAQ document in which questions and concerns are taken into account and a public forum with both Martensdale STS is held. Marys and Saydel Superintenden, both of whom have four days of school.

“They shared their experiences from both concerns and from the planning process and as soon as they were implemented,” said Petersen.

Childcare was a concern that the district wanted to address. The school itself does not lead a childcare center, but she wants to help the parents to fight the struggles that they may have if they do not go to school on Mondays.

“We have a care center opposite the school. Although we do not offer any care, we could offer you space, ”said Petersen. “We also had some students and paras on ourselves to take care of babysittits or care.”

A surprising knowledge from the other districts was how childcare began as a big problem, but after the change of the change, this was not mentioned as a problem.

“After talking to 10 different districts, they said that the daycare center was number one at the beginning and has not been a problem since then,” said Petersen.

Two other concerns were academic performance and the duration of the school day. The previously shared examinations of the district showed that there are hardly any negative effects on academic achievements. Districts who work with 30 or more students a week showed no significant influence on the performance of the students.

“(The switch) adds the school day for 40 minutes,” said Petersen. “Since we have looked at our calendar this year and the number of contact times of the students this year, we will actually have almost identical contact hours for students next year. We don't really lose this academic period. “

Petersen again listened to the public why the district selected Mondays.

“We did on Mondays for a few different reasons,” said Petersen. “In the past we had a PD and many holidays fell on Mondays, so it felt more like a easier transition. We received feedback to leave alone on Fridays, and the feedback from the community to have it on a Monday. “

If the move comes into force to four days, the work on how the effects of students and employees affect will not stop. As with every new program or new change, the managers will continue to evaluate it in the course of the school year.

“One thing we will do is, after we have implemented this year next year, and we rate it consistently and re -evaluate it,” said Petersen. “From a academic point of view and from the point of view of the community feeling, outside of these concerns, we will make sure that we re-rate it continuously.”

With the decision made, work will begin to use research and potential plans and to make it reality.

“Now that we switch to the transition phase, we work with every personnel group. What about the curriculum? What about the additional curriculum transport on Mondays, ”said Petersen. “Now we can go to the planning.”