STURGIS, S.D. – The Meade 46-1 School District has wrapped up three days of public hearings to discuss a proposed four-day school week. The sessions included results from a survey that was sent out to district parents. Meade 46-1 School Superintendent Wayne Wormstadt says they were pleased to receive over 1,100 responses. “We did an initial survey in, I believe it was in June, for interest, and there was actually 1,100 survey responses from our parents on that, and there’s actually an interest to look at moving forward”, Wormstadt told KBHB Wednesday morning. “And we had a 50% response rate just on comments, which is really high for a survey. Those two parent meetings went very well down in Stagebarn and then Sturgis Williams Middle School, and gaining questions and feedback to that entire process.” Wormstadt says under the proposed draft calendar, instructional hours would remain the same across 154 contact days—16 fewer days than the current schedule. To make up the time, school days would be extended by approximately 35 minutes. Wormstadt says research shows that if you maintain your instructional hours, your learning does not dip. “If you actually cut your instructional hours, your student instruction, learning actually takes a dip in your scores. So, the committee is very firm about saying we need to maintain instructional hours. So, that means we add 35 minutes, it’s 154, you add more minutes, it’s fewer days, all those different areas there to make sure that balances out across the district. So, we’re trying to adhere to that, what research says there, and then say, ‘Okay, you look at the popularity piece, once districts go to a four-day school week, 81% of parents want to continue it. 90% of kids want to continue it.’ So, the thing is if you go to it, it’s very popular once you get into it. The question is, can you maintain for—the committee is saying—our instructional standards that we want to have? “ Wormstadt stressed that the schedule remains a draft, noting that some weeks—such as those with Monday holidays—would still require a fifth day of instruction. “We’ll be working on a, probably a recommendation and what it would look like proposed, and then we’re going to be surveying all of our community members and parents for that specifically—and sort of a disaggregate form so we can really pull data out, saying, “Hey, if you’re an elementary parent, where do you stand on this versus a high school parent?”—and moving that forward.” The board plans to further evaluate fifth-day options and community childcare needs before making any final decisions. Wormstadt says the board will re-visit the issue in December and could vote on the issue in January. Share via: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More