Clarke work session sparks questions about 4-day week

Editor’s note: This is part two of two about Clarke Schools’ discussion regarding a four-day school week.

While student learning time, teacher happiness and overall interest were big topics of discussion at the Dec. 17 work session of the Clarke Community School Board and administration teams, so were the topics of athletics, activities, hourly staff and childcare, many of which had questions posed to guests from Saydel and Cardinal school districts.

Athletics and activities

Clarke School Board Member Brad Lampe inquired how one less school day affected the schools’ band programs. Cardinal Superintendent James Craig said Cardinal has seen no negative impacts as far as preparation for music events, but pointed out Cardinal is not in the same place as Clarke is with their band program. Saydel Human Resources and Director of Programs and Services Alex Stubbers had a similar response, adding that a lot of times the band would be able to come in on Friday mornings and have more time for practice. While the extra rehearsal was not mandatory, Saydel Board Member Gary Christensen added the kids were big on one another showing up and participating.

Clarke Activities Director Kelly Winter said Clarke struggles to keep coaches for long stretches of time, partly due to the fact that all of the schools in the South Central Conference, with the exception of Chariton, are an hour or more drive away. When athletes have midweek games on the road, they are often not making it back to school until close to midnight and are required to be at school the next morning. Winter said having an extra day off each week could help with athlete wellness and coach retention.

“That Friday could be very beneficial to them if they are not here,” Winter said. He did question what the student section would look like if there was no school on Fridays.

In terms of having either Mondays or Fridays off, Winter said from a coaching standpoint, most coaches would rather have the day of a game off than the day before. He also suggested that having a day of no school could open up community gym time, or that opportunities to collaborate with Parks and Rec might be an option.

Some Clarke school members and staff worried that longer school days in a four-day week would mean less time for students in between school and going to practice or an event. For those events that take place during the school day, the students attending would be losing more learning time with a shortened week.

Curriculum

Clarke School Board Member Jon Sullivan questioned if the school’s current curriculum was compatible with a four-day week. Clarke Director of Teaching and Learning Dr. Stephanie Brown said some of it is, but not all. She said she had already reached out to their curriculum partners to see about four-day plans, as many are starting to create plans to fit four-day weeks.

“I think about our retention with our curriculum,” Clarke School Board Member Dr. Ben Hicks said, stating that they will hire a teacher who is here for a year or two, learns the curriculum then leaves and the cycle repeats. “Just the fidelity of our teaching this curriculum is really hard with our current setup.”

Childcare and food insecurity

A big concern had to do with childcare on the third day off. Saydel Superintendent Todd Martin said it was only a problem in the first six months and is now not. Saydel had already offered a childcare option prior to the move to four-day, but very few families have utilized it since the schedule change.

“Many enjoy spending the extra day with their kids,” he said.

Saydel offers babysitter training for high school students through an Iowa State Extension Office program and also partners with DHS.

For food insecurity, Saydel partners with the Food Bank of Iowa and has kitchen staff come in on Fridays to package meals for the following week for students in need to take home, which in turn gives those hourly staff additional hours.

Hourly staff and cost-savings

Clarke Transportation and Facilities Director Randy Clyde inquired about custodial and kitchen staff at Saydel and Cardinal, and as to whether they received any benefit from going from five to four days. Martin said at Saydel, they were offered to go to four, 10 hour days but all opted to stay at five, eight hour days. For hourly staff, Saydel offered “creative scheduling” on Fridays, where they could participate in PD or complete tasks needed. As Saydel outsources their bussing services, they only had to worry about having transportation for activities on off-days.

Craig said there was no change for custodial staff, other than being offered four, 10 hour days during summer break. All hourly staff at Cardinal were “made whole,” adjusting their pay to reflect four instead of five days.

Clyde shared he had spoken with his bus drivers and many of them were okay with a four-day week, including taking their same pay for four days and not having a raise in the first year. If there was a week where a fifth day was needed, then drivers would be paid for that fifth day.

Both Saydel and Cardinal said that there would be little if any cost-savings in making the switch from five to four days. Martin said at Saydel, there was maybe a $35,000to 40,000 savings per year. Craig said the only realistic savings would be about one-fifth of the cost to run the bus routes. Overall, both superintendents agreed that there were very little cost savings and that had not been a deciding factor for either school.

In terms of compensating with pay, Clarke School Board member Robin Galvez hesitated at paying staff and others to not actually be in the building.

“I can’t, as being good stewards of our money, justify paying someone to not be here. That’s our taxpayers’ money,” Galvez said.

Future conversations

Clarke School Board President Wendy Short asked if more brainstorming sessions would be beneficial, as the board didn’t want to proceed further if there was little interest from administration. Clarke Middle School Principal Dr. Sarah Kelly said she was open for more discussions, but questioned the timing for implementation.

“Do I think it is feasible for next school year? Not and do it well,” she said, saying a hybrid calendar might be easier to do next year. “I would hate for us to attempt something and do it very poorly.”

Clarke High School Principal Ruby Clyde agreed, but said she didn’t want to see the conversation drag out for years. Lampe agreed that part of going to four days would be to attract teaching applicants, and waiting too long while other schools jumped on the bandwagon would find Clarke in the same position they are in now. For the 2025-26 school year, 27 Iowa school districts have reported as being on a four-day schedule, up from 18 in 2024-25.

“I would proceed with caution on whatever calendar you put out,” Lampe said, saying it may be best to take a full year to prepare everyone to make the switch to four days, if they decide to do so.

At Saydel, Martin explained they had started out one year with five days and slowly eased into a four-day week, and full board approval and interest was necessary for every step of the process.

“... every step along the way, [the board] were provided input and were provided all kinds of updates and in each point in that period of time, we continued to ask them, how much interest do you have,” Martin said. “... are we willing to continue this, because we didn’t want to waste our time and our admins’ time, if the board wasn’t very, very serious about it and they supported us every step of the way.”

Hicks said that something needed to be done.

“I feel like something has to change. I feel like we spin our wheels, it’s been like this I’ve been here. This is the most positive idea I’ve heard to change that since I’ve been here as we’ve struggled every board meeting to talk about retention and recruiting,” Hicks said.

Both Martin and Craig reaffirmed their schools’ decisions to go to four days amongst concerns of their communities.

“We found very viable solutions. It’s a matter of building confidence in your community with those solutions… we think it’s fantastic, it’s just been one of the better things we’ve done in the last five to six years,” Martin said.

“We are very happy with the four-day week and would really struggle to go back,” Craig said.

The school board agreed to hold future discussions about a four-day school week, including more surveys and making sure they are looking at how the change would be a benefit to all.