{"id":34722,"date":"2022-03-30T16:22:58","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T21:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=34722"},"modified":"2022-03-30T16:22:58","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T21:22:58","slug":"rural-school-districts-get-creative-to-maintain-spirit-of-popular-four-day-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2022\/03\/30\/rural-school-districts-get-creative-to-maintain-spirit-of-popular-four-day-schedule\/","title":{"rendered":"Rural school districts get creative to maintain spirit of popular four day schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 2019 law was designed <\/span>to limit four-day school weeks<\/span><\/a> across Oklahoma, but those districts are making an effort to keep their four-day calendars alive.<\/span><\/p>

The practice had become increasingly popular<\/a> as districts tried to cut costs and lure teachers to their classrooms with an attractive schedule amid an educator shortage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

But, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the law in taking full effect, and a State Department of Education tally shows 73 of Oklahoma\u2019s more than 500 districts continue to use four-day school weeks this spring.<\/span><\/p>

Many do this by reducing the number of school days in a year and increasing the number of hours each day so they are in class for fewer than 165 days. The law – <\/span>Senate Bill 441<\/span><\/a> – states school districts must have at least 165 instructional days and 1,080 instructional hours per school year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Even though the law was in effect this year, Oklahoma\u2019s State Board of Education gave schools a blanket waiver to go less than 165 days.<\/span><\/p>

The schools can apply for a waiver right now, but it has performance metrics related to schools improving their state test scores. Because state tests were paused to COVID-19 during the 2019-20 school year, there is no measurable data to illustrate improvement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Oklahoma\u2019s State Department of Education reports no district has applied for a waiver to attend fewer than 165 instructional days. A spokesperson says the deadline is June 30.<\/span><\/p>

But many rural superintendents felt like it was impractical to apply, said Derrick Meador of Jennings Public Schools.<\/span><\/p>

So, he and his school board decided to get creative. His district is sprinkling in virtual Fridays to get up to the required number of 165. The ultimate goal: retain educators who might take a job elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cIt’s popular in the community, and the teachers love it, and you keep good teachers in place,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>

He\u2019s hardly alone.<\/span><\/p>

March is a common time for school boards to set calendars for the upcoming academic year. And schedules have or are being considered across the state.<\/span><\/p>

In Granite, the district is adding virtual Fridays throughout the year to get to 165, according to the district superintendent. Bridge Creek Schools in Blanchard will go five days a week in the fall and four days in the spring, according to a <\/span>calendar<\/span><\/a> on their website.<\/span><\/p>

Meador said in his area, other four-day districts have all had conversations about their plans. They\u2019re each finding ways to make it work and take as many Fridays off as possible.<\/span><\/p>

And Meador said he doesn\u2019t believe it will be to the detriment of students. After all, Jennings has been utilizing a four-day week for eight years.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cWe’ll have the same amount of instruction this next year as we have had the previous eight,\u201d Meador said. \u201cWe’re just changing how many days.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 2019 law was designed to limit four-day school weeks across Oklahoma, but those districts are making an effort to keep their four-day calendars alive.The practice had become increasingly popular as districts tried to cut costs and lure teachers to their classrooms with an attractive schedule amid an educator shortage.\u00a0But, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":34723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34722"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34726,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34722\/revisions\/34726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}