Tiger News - March 2019 Newsletter
Keeping you informed about your schools, Tiger News covers a wide range of topics like special projects, stories about students or faculty, and more!
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This quarter's feature story covers the possibility of switching to a four-day school week. Our superintendent, Chuck Stockton, shares some thoughts:
The Stoutland R-II School District is looking into the possibility of switching to a four-day school week in the future, but no decisions have been made yet. More schools are turning to four-day school weeks citing benefits for both students and their teachers. Current estimates indicate that about 560 school districts in 25 states have four-day weeks, and many are in rural areas. Stoutland R-II is considering a four-day week to solve the district’s chronic teacher retention problem. Stoutland is among several area rural districts with much lower starting teacher salaries compared to neighboring larger districts with whom we compete for employees. Compounding our problem of lower salaries is a 41% turnover rate in certified staff that saw 18 new employees hired to start this school year.
Great teachers matter. They are one of the biggest factors in student achievement and we should fight to keep them in the classroom. We cannot compensate our employees at the same rate as our larger neighboring districts.
As such, Stoutland Schools can benefit from a shift to four-day weeks resulting in what other parents, teachers, administrators and scholars say are better student performance and attendance, increased morale among students and teachers and an ability to recruit and keep highquality teachers — because regular three-day weekends are a big attraction.
Families may benefit from a 4-day week, especially when it comes to making dentist and doctor appointments as well as the opportunity for the occasional three-day weekend trip previously unavailable due to their children’s’ school schedule.
I realize this could be a significant change for our students, their families, and the communities we are so fortunate to serve. Meeting the requirements of working parents with childcare needs and feeding children dependent upon free school meals are among the top concerns to be addressed with the implementation of a 4-day school week. We are asking for your support and input on a plan to address our most pressing challenge that affects the education of our children – “An alarming trend of high turnover among our teaching staff.”
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