(From the McDonald County R-1 School District)Tonight, the School Board voted to approve the transition to a four-day school week for the 2024-2025 academic year.
With declining enrollments in teacher education programs and neighboring states offering higher salaries, recruiting certified teachers to work in McDonald County Schools and keeping them here has been challenging.
A committee of community members and school staff extensively researched solutions, leading them to recommend the four-day school week model to the board.
McDonald County joins more than 200 school districts across Missouri that plan to switch to the four-day school week model next year.
8 comments:
I think it is going to cost extra $ for childcare if the parents work 8-5 day shift.
Speaking from experience, McDonald County has always taken the easiest (dare I say laziest) route. For decades they have struggled to get decent teachers; there are a few good ones, but the majority I encountered in high school were just there for a paycheck. Once again, adults are letting children down. How are parents going to pay for childcare, if they can even find it? Many children will be left alone, or in the “care” of potentially abusive relatives or live-ins, and without school lunch several will likely go without food on Friday. Former school superintendent Bill Carnell, who worked so hard to uplift the children and education system in McDonald County, would be furious. The McDonald County school board should be ashamed.
If you've ever been to Mac county you can tell right away that education is not a top priority within the community.
@3:29
I wanted to offer an alternative take on the district and their administration. So about 8 years ago, McDonald County reworked their entire approach. I worked collaboratively with the board and all facets of staff from 2016-2022. My time spent in their district and with their leadership and educators alike was arguably the most student-focused collection of staff in SW Missouri, if not, second only to Monett (believe it or not). Mark Stanton was superintendent during this period.
I gave public presentations twice annually to the board, always asking for their cooperation in providing me staff, transportation, and additional resources. They were renowned as a model for taking whatever measures may exist to serve their students. I was never told "no". I was never given partial funding or resources. They were ALWAYS willing to accommodate students' needs, and they received consistent state-level praise from various organizations tied to what I do.
On the subject of a 4-day school week, though ... I agree with your belief that the situation is not ideal and creates the potential for all kinds of dangerous situations. Having said that, school is not a daycare. I don't believe the design behind our education institutions stems from asking questions like "what can we do to get our children out of the home?".
As for adults letting children down... My spouse is a teacher (not at McDonald County), and I'm not sure the general public understands the scrutiny that modern educators face on a daily basis. Many parents want individualized road maps for the things that their children can and cannot learn about. While some of us sit here and shake our heads and say "yeah, people are crazy", those crazy people are actual parents of students in this region, and our teachers have to deal with them on a daily basis.
Also, in Missouri they are trying to pass a bill that would require any educator who refers to a student by a pronoun other than those which align their birth-assigned gender, they are to be placed on the registered sex offender list. In application, if a teacher had a student who identified as female but was assigned male at birth, and the teacher called the student "she", as the student requested, they are placed on the registry.
During one of the waves of the pandemic, a local district had a member of leadership --- who, get this, openly admitted to having an active COVID-19 infection --- touring the schools to show teachers and staff that she was perfectly capable of working with COVID-19, so no one was getting time off for illness and school would definitely not be closed (spoiler: the school closed down for a week two days later).
Missouri ranks as either the 49th or 50th state in educator income, depending on which data source you go with. Which likely contributes to the reason that most every district is understaffed at the moment.
So who in their right mind would want to come to Missouri and be a teacher? If you go to Wal-Mart right now, you're bound to find a number of college graduates working hourly jobs, and I personally know that to be the case for at least three different individuals here in Joplin --- former educators now making $15-16 per hour because we don't want to invest resources to sustain educational institutions. Not everyone is capable of showing up for work every single day when they are neglected as professionals, I don’t think you’re being fair in this respect.
I feel like the district made the right call. They were early on it, and they will be pulling educators from other districts as a result. I mentioned it to an educator I know very well in Neosho, and she said she had already e-mailed a cv to the HR Director down there. Again, there are still a number of concerns that will have to be addressed, but there is no question in my mind that it will help their ability to recruit and retain teachers.
Not the school's problem...
When was Bill Carnell the superintendent?
Very nice move! Just waiting for surrounding districts to follow.
dumb
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