Palo Pinto ISD announces 4-day school week calendar for 2022-23
May 19—PALO PINTO — Palo Pinto ISD will be following a four-day school week calendar in the 2022-23 school year after the board took action on the calendar at the May 17 trustee meeting and approved it unanimously.
District staff were provided information, weighed the pros and cons, and ultimately expressed an overwhelmingly positive opinion in a staff survey, with 83% of staff voting affirmatively for a four-day school week and the remaining 17% voting as undecided or unopinionated. Guardians were asked to complete a survey indicating their viewpoint on moving to a four-day calendar and those responses were also extremely affirmative. Of the surveys sent home, 100% of the surveys were returned. Of those returned, 98% indicated their support of a four-day calendar.
"We are at a fork in the road so to speak," PPISD Superintendent Wendell Barker said. "There is news daily of school districts moving to the four-day school calendar, several of which are in our area."
Barker said the district had been informally considering the option for the last year with an intent to consider it for the 2023-24 school year.
"However, with so many schools making the change, we felt it was time to seek immediate feedback from our stakeholders," he said.
The superintendent noted that the response from students, staff and parents in the district was "compellingly affirmative" of the change.
"In a world that has been everything but status quo the past several years, including in the world of education, it is no surprise that the option of a four-day calendar made its timely appearance," Barker said. "Educator attrition in Texas is currently at an all-time high. Fortunately, our staff is very pleased in working for PPISD, but this change will only strengthen the morale of our staff and our teachers specifically."
The new schedule will still adhere to the state-required 75,600 minutes of instruction, with school days 40 minutes longer Monday-Thursday in order for the instructional time not to be negatively impacted from that of the traditional calendar.
"We will still be going to school the same amount of time (instructional minutes) on a four-day calendar as we would on a traditional five-day calendar," Barker said. "This approach will allow additional time for teachers to analyze data, plan the most effective instruction, attend staff development trainings to hone their craft, attend meetings to ensure individual student growth, provide remediation for students in need, meet with parents as needed, all while simultaneously increasing teacher morale, quality staff recruitment, and retention, and serve any other pertinent needs.
"We realize that it is not going to be a perfect transition. We have thought through a lot of the details, had many discussions already, and have jogged the minds of some of our neighboring districts who have already lived the four-day week."
He said the ultimate goal is to offer the best educational programs for students while staying relevant to the needs of educators.
"Though there are rarely perfect solutions, this innovative approach seems to be one that could prove beneficial for the stakeholders in our district," Barker said,
A copy of the school calendar can be found on the district's website at www.palopintoisd.net.
