Teachers say four-day plan could be essential
Feb. 22—Broad staff shortages will worsen if the St. Joseph Board of Education does not implement some kind of reform soon, several teachers warned on Thursday.
The teachers spoke to the committee on recruitment and retention at the Noyes Administration Building, offering commentary that favored dropping Monday from the weekly class calendar. The school board will vote during a meeting that starts at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Troester Media Center.
Teresa Juhl of Edison Elementary said that as things are now, teachers don't have a lot of free time, including on nights and weekends.
"Many of you know that teachers spend a lot of personal time preparing for their jobs," Juhl said. "For me, that four-day workweek means I can give that extra time, I can give that extra energy, that some students greatly need."
School board member Isaura Garcia, who has to date expressed skepticism about the plan, offered a response to the teachers present Thursday.
"I've voiced my concerns about the four-day school week, and I don't want the teachers to think that I don't support them or that I don't want to support them," said Garcia, who is the board chairwoman of the retention committee. "My biggest concerns have been the students and how we take care of them."
Thus far, one board member, David Foster, has explicitly stated he will vote "no" on the measure. Garcia and Kim Miller have indicated they are leaning in that direction. Kenneth Reeder and Rick Gehring have not yet given a firm indication about their positions. LaTonya Williams and Whitney Lanning endorse the plan.
Although no formal motion has yet been proposed, the plan as laid out would reduce the number of class days from 171 to about 155 each year. It also would reduce the number of classroom hours from more than 1,110 to 1,089.
The State of Missouri requires at least 1,044 classroom hours to be done each year. That would allow for about six days to be called off for bad weather or other circumstances. Some 35 minutes would be added to Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday hours of instruction.
Clayton Bosch, a Pershing Elementary teacher who recently graduated from Missouri Western State University to start his career in education, said there is a need to do more to make St. Joseph a good place to teach.
"I was introduced to the St. Joseph School District through my time at Missouri Western, and just the opportunities to get into the classroom and chat with some of the teachers is what drove my desire to start off in St. Joe," Bosch said. "Unfortunately, about 90% of the (new teachers) that I graduated with decided to go elsewhere. I have seen just in my last two years a lot of turnover. I just know the importance of consistency in the classroom."
Lt. Col. David Jones, who leads Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs in the district and is the vice president of the St. Joseph Missouri National Education Association, said his group favors the four-day calendar. A survey of hundreds of members, which remains ongoing, showed 65% of teachers are in favor, 23% are opposed and 12% are neither in favor nor opposed.
"Anything that you can do to give time off to the workforce is a plus," Jones said. "And so, as a personal note, I applaud the district for proposing this proposal, and I hope the board approves it."
Secondary to the conversation about teachers was the role of support staff, an area where a number of details remain to be determined. As things presently stand, staff who are paid by the hour would potentially not have some scheduled hours they normally work on Monday.
They would be eligible to work Monday in support of the stopgap child care services the district intends to offer, in partnership with InterServ, the YMCA and other such organizations, Superintendent Gabe Edgar told the committee on Thursday.
Marcus Clem can be reached at marcus.clem@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowClem
