Four-day school week in Little Elm ISD? Board delays calendar change to gather more data, input

The district put out a survey in mid-December 2022 to receive input from parents and staff for the consideration of a four-day week. Total respondents to the survey included 1,379 parents, 564 employees, and 144 respondents who were employees and parents.

In the survey, Calendar A gave the option of a four-day week and Calendar B was the typical five-day week. According to the data, 1,338 respondents had a preference for Calendar A and 749 respondents had a preference for Calendar B.

Parents who voted were 50.8% for Calendar A and 49.2% for Calendar B and employees who voted were 89.5% for Calendar A and 10.5% for Calendar B.

“I’m going to speak on behalf of the board, but I think what we would like at this point in time is after reviewing all of the results of the surveys, considering also the circumstances that we are in the middle of a superintendent search, getting that person's opinion is very, very much valued in what step the district is going to take going forward,” LEISD Board President James Olson said. “Not only that, but just the board in general believes some more research needs to be done.”

At the request of the board, staff is going to come back during the Monday, Feb. 6 board workshop with two five-day calendar options with built-in in-service days where teachers are not actually required to be in school, but with optional days where they have time to do lesson planning outside of the school hours.

The board will take those two options to the Monday, Feb. 20 meeting for a vote.

After the decision was made by the board to only consider five-day week calendars, a citizen input was held and several Little Elm ISD staff and parents spoke regarding the four-day week.

One of the first speakers during citizen input was Robin Bowman, an LEISD teacher.

“When the idea [of a four-day week] popped up in an email, there were tons of teachers who shouted ‘Can you believe it?’ and this gave me hope,” Bowman said. “In my only five years of teaching, I’m done. I’m exhausted, but I love my kids and I love my job, so it’s hard to weigh the balance.”

Other speakers during citizen input cited statistics about teacher retention and the cost of living in Little Elm, which most teachers are unable to keep up with and have to work two jobs, one presenter said.

Addison Maxwell, a teacher at Chavez Elementary School, was also in support of the four-day week because he said it would help with teacher retention.

“Our applicant pools are empty, which is especially troubling now that it has become common for educators to quit mid-year due to mounting stress and lack of work-life balance,” Maxwell said. “I would know. I was one of the educators who almost quit mid-year.”

More than 25 people spoke during citizen input with various opinions about the four-day week and putting forth their own ideas to help with teacher retention in the district.

The Little Elm Board of Trustees will meet for a workshop meeting on Monday, Feb. 6 to consider five-day week calendars for the upcoming academic year and it will be voted on and finalized on Monday, Feb. 20.