LA VERNIA, Texas — La Vernia Independent School District will begin a four-day school week in the fall with hopes of attracting and retaining educators.
The pandemic proved challenging for school districts across Texas due to the teacher shortage, which La Vernia ISD also experienced.
“Throughout the year we have been able to fill certain positions but then other positions are open. We do have a math position open. Sometimes the math and sciences are little more difficult to find,” said Dr. Helen Whisenhunt, La Vernia ISD’s chief instructional officer.
On Monday, the La Vernia ISD Board of Trustees approved the shorter school week model as a three-year pilot program.
“They’re not feeling like they’re going to get an extra day off they feel like they’re going to get a day to caught up get planned get grades in and then still have a little bit of time to decompress and have time with their families,” Whisenhunt said.
School will start potentially 15 minutes earlier and end 30 minutes later. It’s also possible the school year could end a week later.
“The state requires us now to get 75,600 minutes and they don’t necessarily require a certain number of days for the kids to be in school so that’s why it allowed us to do something innovative like this and make sure that we’re getting the minutes in but we were able to reduce the number of days,” Whisenhunt said.
The future of the four-day school week beyond the three-year pilot will be measured based on academic achievement and survey results from teachers, students and the community.
Whisenhunt stressed educator pay will not be negatively impacted.
“Our teachers are still going to get their annual step raise. All teachers in the state every year get a percentage raise in their pay. However, “our teachers this upcoming year on a four-day instructional week what they normally make on a five-day week, they’re going to be making on a four-day week,” Whisenhunt said.
Above all, Whisenhunt said a major goal of the shorter school week is to increase student success.
“We know not having a strong effective teacher in the classroom can harm students. We feel our students are going to continue to achieve at high levels and our teachers are going to adapt to this change really easily,” Whisenhunt said.
Harlandale ISD is also considering moving to a four-day school week.