APSB releases post on 2019-20 school calendar

The following is a post made on Wednesday,March 20 on the Avoyelles Parish School Board Facebook page. The post details the 2019-20 school calendar with a 4 day week:

The Avoyelles Parish School Board realizes that many parents and community members have reservations about the 4 day school week that will begin in August of 2019. We would like to clear up a few things, so you will realize why we are doing it and what we are doing to try to make the transition a little easier.
First, let’s discuss the why. The MAIN reason the board feels like this is a positive change is we believe we will be able to attract- and retain- more quality teachers. As you probably already know, teacher pay in Avoyelles Parish is 70th in the state (out of 70 districts). Teachers can drive across parish lines in every direction and make more money- as much as 9,000 dollars a year more. So, we’re not going to attract teachers with money. We also lose a few every year to neighboring districts because of our lack of pay. If this helps us attract more teachers- and it helps us keep our current ones- this will be a success. Some of you don’t understand the urgency because your child attends a school that is fully staffed with certified teachers. However, some of our schools have many classrooms that have permanent subs because we have no applicants. Some of our students take classes online that are mostly self-directed because, again, there is no teacher to teach that class. When you ask “how will this help my child?”, ask yourself this- would you rather your child have a quality teacher 4 extended days a week or have a substitute 5 days a week (or be in an online class that is, for the most part, self-directed for 5 days)?
Will this lead to our desired result? Will we have more quality teachers? Will we have fewer classes with subs or online? We can’t answer that with a guarantee. But we can tell you that very early indications are that we will. Interest is high.
The assumption by many is that this is being done as a cost-saving measure. While it may save money, that is not the main reason this was voted in. The average savings for districts across the country that have tried this are 1 to 2 ½ percent. That would mean somewhere between 500,000 and 1.5 million dollars. There is no guarantee that we will realize these savings. If we do, we may be able to prevent the closing of any of our schools, but again, this is not a guarantee.
The board is also trying to do a few things to help with the 4 day week:
1- We’ve heard a concern from parents that getting home an hour later and having to do homework (and other activities) with their kids is a problem. The board has instituted a “no homework” policy. No homework can be given that is due before the following Tuesday. Therefore, students will always have the weekend and Monday to complete homework assignments if they weren’t able to complete them during the week. (Please note that studying for a test is NOT considered homework and therefore, not part of this policy.)
2- We’ve heard that parents are concerned that their kids will be really hungry by the time they get home an hour later than they are now. APSB will be providing a third meal to all students. It will be a “super snack” and will be hearty. This meal, like breakfast and lunch, will be free to all students. So, the APSB will be feeding students three times a day at absolutely no charge.
3- The board is forming a committee to try to work with civic organizations and local churches to try to help provide activities for students on Mondays.
4- The board is looking closely at all routes and alternatives to TRY to cut at least a few minutes off of our longest bus routes. There is a chance a few routes may be able to be cut by 15-20 minutes so your children will get home 45 minutes later instead of an hour.
5- We have tentatively decided to keep block scheduling in our high schools already using this schedule. We will be sure to have some "physical movement" of some type at the midpoint of these periods to help keep our students as alert and into the lesson as possible. (If this changes, we will immediately make the change known to the public.)
Please understand that we know this will not answer all of your questions/concerns. We will continue to try to be as transparent through the process and as questions arise we will try to do our best to answer them. We are also posting next year’s school calendar, so that you can begin plans now.