Speculation has begun on whether shortened school weeks will continue through the next school year in the Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1, after schools made the shift to four-day schedules when classes resumed this month.
Even if four-day school weeks are again adopted, next school year’s calendar would differ logistically from this year’s, which was modified midyear.
The RE-1 Board of Education discussed three potential new schedules at Tuesday’s meeting.
The calendars haven’t been finalized yet or made available to the public for review.
Board member Sherri Wright read overviews of each. One outline proposed returning to five-day school weeks and suggested 169 or 171 school days. The two others preserve the condensed weeks – one 160 days long with time off for holidays such as Presidents Day, and another was 146 days long with no additional holidays.
In Colorado, schools must plan for 990 student contact hours at the elementary level, and 1,080 at the secondary level. Schools are required to be in session 160 days, but may request exemptions from the state.
The current school year is 160 days long.
The initial transition to four-day weeks received an outpouring of support from staff and student families, and was considered to provide relief for overworked teachers amid sweeping staff shortages.
However, conversation and conflicting opinions resurfaced during Tuesday’s board meeting.
Among the concerns mentioned were additional burden on working parents, longer school days being too strenuous for younger learners, at-risk students losing the sanctuary of school on Fridays, and students remaining in school for too long without rest after winter break should there be no additional holidays.
“That’s where they feel safest, and high-risk kids don’t feel safe at home sometimes,” said new board member Layne Frazier. “They get fed, they know they’re going to get cared for. They know their teachers care for them, and they feel safe.”
It was then reported that 38 out of 63 students who signed up attended the Piñon Project’s first “Fun Fridays” at Mesa Elementary, during which students are treated to a full day’s worth of activities and breakfast, lunch and snacks.
Board member Stacey Hall asked if the school district could implement a similar program in addition to Piñon Project’s activities.
Kyle Archibeque, director of finance, said that the district had enough money from the state to execute its own Friday activities for two years. That state money, he said, was distributed to address learning loss from the pandemic.
It was noted that the high school’s Saturday school was moved to Friday.
School board student representative Avery Wright said despite her all-Advance Placement class schedule, four day weeks have been manageable, and she enjoys working from home on Friday while spending time with her parents.
She told the board she felt that teachers were available for assistance on Fridays.
Board members also weighed in on the benefit of the shorter weeks for teachers, who now have more planning time.
Jim Parr, executive director of Academic Student Services, offered insight, explained that the 146-day calendar year closely resembles that of the Mancos and Dolores school districts.
“We can’t be like them exactly, but we can take some lessons from the things that they’ve already done ahead of us,” he said at the meeting.
Wright said it was important to align spring breaks with the Mancos and Dolores school districts and Pueblo Community College for dual-enrolled students.
School calendar discussions fit into the larger conversation of potential in-town elementary school consolidations and pay schedule adjustments in the talks for next year.
