VICTOR SCHOOL FOUR DAY SCHOOL WEEK

2006-2007

Prepared by Luanne Bauman, District Clerk

CONTACT INFORMATIONLUANNE BAUMAN

425 4TH AVE VICTOR, MT 59875

406-642-3221 Ext. 264

bauman@victor.k12.mt.us

SPECIFIC DEMOGRAPHICS OF VICTOR SCHOOL DISTRICT #7

Large Class “C” School

342 Total Students, 129 in High School Our students participate in most events

SPECIFIC DEMOGRAPHICS OF VICTOR SCHOOL DISTRICT #7

2 Administrators, 27 Certified Staff, 22 Classified Support Staff

Shared staff – so block scheduling is not an option

Classifieds are not unionized

SPECIFIC DEMOGRAPHICS OF VICTOR SCHOOL DISTRICT #7

Small district, distance wise• Four bus routes, the longest being 23.5 miles• Student population tends to move in and out

easily• Three Class A schools within 15 miles

OUR SCHOOL DAY

Teacher Time Begins 7:45 amWarning Bell 8:10 am1st Period Begins 8:15 am

Class periods average 62 minutes7th Period Ends 4:15 pmTeacher Time Ends 4:45 pm

OUR SCHOOL DAY 145 student days

Teachers can opt for flex time (exchange time to end of day or to beginning)

No early outs

Teachers have a very productive in-service on Friday mornings about once a month

OUR SCHOOL DAY

One week for spring break

School begins the Tuesday after Labor Day

School ends June 11th

PUBLIC CONCERNS

Items of concern that were raised from public meetings:

Increased vandalism at school and in the community What are the children going to do on Friday? Decrease in enrollment Too long of a day for younger students Grades will suffer (quality of education) Will not get through curriculum

VICTOR SCHOOL GOALS

HAVE ESTABLISHED GOALS Increase Attendance Increase Class Time Increase or Maintain Test Scores Reduce Substitutes and Associated Costs Reduce Utility Costs Reduce Transportation Costs Boost Morale

DO’S AND DON’TSPublish in the local

newspaper the dates of any public input needed and the final decision. Most newspapers will be happy to write a few articles prior to the fact for you.

DO’S AND DON’TS

Do some leg work for working parents of elementary children. Make a list of all daycare providers in your area. If you don’t have any - work with churches, youth groups, service groups, Kids First, etc. This will be one of your biggest issues and one of the hardest to overcome and answer.

DO’S AND DON’TSPlan early. Start the

process at least 1-2 years before the time of change. What you are doing now does count.

Make sure your board meeting agendas explain the topic well, so the district membership and community can understand.

DO’S AND DON’TSNewsletters, flyers

to students, surveys, the more information out there the better. TV and radio spots, if available.

DO’ AND DON’TS

State specifically why you are doing this. Don’t expect too much as far as saving money. Yes, that is a big reason, but you don’t save a flat 20%.

Be careful about talking too much regarding athletics. Elementary parents don’t want to hear about this.

DO’S AND DON’TSHave a class do a report

on the impact before (Pros and Cons) the switch and after the fact (How this has impacted the students). This is important to let the students have a say in this too. It’s great PR. We had our senior writing class do this. Very beneficial to document how this is affecting our student body.

DO’S AND DON’TS

Remember to change all wording in contracts, handbooks, collective bargaining agreements, travel specifications, any document that states days.

DO’S AND DON’TS

Think how this will impact your classified employees too. You want to keep morale positive.

DO’S AND DON’TS

Plan your school calendar early, this is a bigger issue than you think.

DO’S AND DON’TSPlan your athletic calendar early. We sort of

did, but not fully, mainly because the calendars were set up almost a full year in advance. All sports on Thursday, Friday and Saturday

Exception is JV Football is still on Mondays

Combine games as much as possible (Middle School Football before Varsity games)

RESULTS SO FAR

Did decrease parental excused absences

Did not really reduce classified wages

Field trip time was usually Friday – now we don’t have an “extra day”

Reduced our ability to feed our needy students one day

RESULTS SO FAR

Did reduce custodial contractual labor by 50%

Did bring our classified starting wages and benefits up and made them attractive to prospective applicants.

Did reduce food costs by 16%

RESULTS SO FAR

District is providing snacks for grades 1-5, which seems to be a tremendous asset for academics and discipline. An addition to our budget though.

Teachers state that they are ahead of curriculum at all age levels

RESULTS SO FAR

Criminal Suspicious0

0.20.40.60.8

11.21.41.61.8

2

20052006

Criminal activity has decreased by 50% on Fridays during school hours.

Suspicious activity had remained the same on Fridays during school hours.

RESULTS SO FAR We increased

classified wages an average of 20%

Provided full health insurance for classifieds working over 50% FTE

Remember to work around schedules to utilize the custodian staff. Ours still work 5 eight hour days.

RESULTS SO FAR Did reduce

our transportation costs immediately by 12%

FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY110

20

40

60

80

100

120

4 day5 day

UNEXPECTED RESULTS Enrollment increased 7%, which 2% was

documented direct result of the 4 day school week

Discipline referrals, detention, ISS and OSS has been reduced by 40%

Absences from school related activities went down 80%

GPA’s have not been affected so far

ABSENCES THROUGH MAY

Sports Excused Other Total0

2000400060008000

10000120001400016000180002000022000240002600028000300003200034000

20052006

GOALS MET OR NOTIncreased attendanceIncreased class timeWe improved our test scores - made AYP Has reduced substitute teachers &

associated costs by 16%Has reduced utilities costs by 24%Has reduced transportation costs by 12%Has boosted staff morale

WAS IT WORTH THE HASSLE?

Not sure – still early yet!

Staff (certified and classified) are quite happy with the schedule

Middle school and high school students are happy with it, but want to add a nutrition break into the day

WAS IT WORTH THE HASSLE?

Really need five years of data to compare

Some elementary parents are still disagreeing over the new schedule

You will never make everyone happy!

THINGS WE MAY CHANGE FOR FY08

Develop a plan to regulate field trips, assemblies, and other activities that are disruptive during the school day.

Utilize staff better. Almost had to live through it, to understand the needs. Have teachers cover detention, individual student needs.

Try to schedule extra-curricular activities on Thursday, Friday and Saturday