No more 4-day school week

by Matt Hughes

J-E News Editor

In a move that will change the face of education in the district, the Webster County School Board voted on Monday to eradicate the four day school schedule.

“It’s going to be a huge change for Webster County students, staff and parents,” said Interim Superintendant Pete Galloway. “You have many staff members who have never taught under a traditional calendar. You have many students who have never gone to school under a traditional schedule.”

Various reasons factored into the overhaul of the schedule. One being that the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has increased the minimum number of instructional days schools must have in the schedule. Students will be in class eight more days in the 2014-2015 school year than they were this year.

Even with the increase in the number of days, Webster County will still only be meeting the minimum number of instructional days. The KDE is requiring between 170 and 177 days. The district’s new schedule includes 170 classroom days.

Officials listed the transition from the four day week to the traditional five day week as part of the reason for only doing the minimum number of days.

Under the newly adopted schedule, the first day for students will be August 7, 2014. Fall break will be from October sixth through the tenth; Christmas break will be December 22 to January second; Spring Break will be April sixth through the tenth; and final day for students will be May 15, 2015.

The change to the five day week will also bring about a change to the school day, but Assistant Superintendant Riley Ramsey said that a new start and stop time had yet to be determined, but there will be some changes. Students will be in class 20 minutes less per day.

Galloway told the board that among the changes would be an adjustment to the way teacher’s spend their “professional learning days.”

“These are not the traditional planing days this district is used to,” he said. “These days will be planned days. From the direction the district was going academically, I think you need to spend some time with your staff.”

In other business, Webster County High School Principal Tim Roy and science teacher Marsha Carver presented the board with a proposal for the district to enroll in a program called AdvancedKentucky.

“Eventually the purpose of this program is to work towards offering more AP (advanced placement) classes to Webster County students,” Roy told the board. “This is a grant program, so the majority of it will be funded from the state and federal level.”

The program works on a five year schedule. Initially it provides funding to train teacher to become AP instructors, and offers funding to provide equipment that is needed in the AP classrooms. During that five year span it also provides financial bonuses for teachers and students who achieve in the classroom.

At the end of the first five years, the district can continue with the program, but AdvancedKentucky will no longer provide funding to the district. The idea is that the program helps get the AP program kick started in order to create a culture of higher learning in the school. At that point it is up to the district itself to keep things going.

Traditionally AP classes are offered to honor students only in the higher grade levels. Under AdvancedKentucky there would be AP class opportunity for students as young as freshmen in high school. The program would also provide training to help pre-AP teachers in the middle school grades to help prepare students to begin taking the classes as freshmen.

It would also require the district to accept any high school student who wanted to take an AP class, even if that student was not an honor roll student.

“If we want our kids to improve academically and be ready for college, I think this is a no brainer,” said Galloway.

The proposal did not require board members to vote, as there was no up-front cost to the schools. Roy and Carver, however, wanted the board’s approval, which they got.

Superintendant Galloway told the board that the committee tasked with finding his successor had now been selected. The application period will end on Friday, and the committee will meet to start looking at resumes on Monday.