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Teton School District shares first-year staffing, attendance and survey data from four-day student week at Myndon town hall
Summary
District staff presented first-year data on the four-day student week, reporting stronger applicant pools and mixed survey results on retention, collaboration and family concerns; parents and teachers raised questions about athletics, Friday programming, longer school days and academic benchmarks.
Teton School District staff presented initial results from the district’s first year on a four-day student week at a town-hall meeting in Myndon, summarizing survey responses, applicant counts and early academic monitoring and outlining next steps for data collection and calendar decisions.
District presenters said staff surveys show broad participation in the new collaboration structures tied to the calendar change: 76.3% of certified staff and 63.3% of classified staff reported they “participated in an active and positive manner,” while smaller shares reported neutral or limited participation. Staff reported they felt stronger relationships and increased leadership opportunities as a result of time carved out for collaboration.
The district shared hiring and retention figures the presenters described as notable for a rural district: 56 applicants for elementary teaching positions, 59 for middle school and 63 for high school openings this year. Paraeducator hires declined across recent years: 26 para hires in 2022–23, 23 in 2023–24 and 14 this year. Presenters also said 56.5% of responding certified staff reported they were more likely to remain in their positions because of the four-day student week; 59.2% of classified respondents said the same.
Parents and teachers who spoke at the meeting pressed district staff on several operational and academic questions. Common parent concerns included availability of organized Friday activities for students, the effect of longer school days on lunch and “pack time,” and requests for calendar alternatives such as rotating Fridays or returning to a five-day week. The district said about 487 survey responses were collected and that roughly 10% of respondents (47 people, by the district’s count) explicitly requested a return to a five-day calendar.
Attendees asked about attendance reporting and instructional time. District staff explained how attendance is reported to the state (students earn 1.0, 0.5 or 0 for a day depending on time present) and said that, because the four-day schedule increases daily instructional hours, a single absence currently represents more lost hours (reported as 7.1 hours on the current schedule versus about 6.2 hours on the prior five-day schedule). Staff said the district will review whether that change affects outcomes when they analyze longitudinal assessment data.
Multiple commenters cited external research, including a University of Montana paper that examined longer-term outcomes on four-day schedules. The district said it lacks a multi-year longitudinal study but is building monitoring into its operations: winter benchmark assessments will be compiled and a baseline/progress report is scheduled for the February school-board meeting. The calendar committee, which convened for the first time the week before the town hall, will use survey and assessment data to evaluate options including shorter student days, rotation schedules or other calendar changes.
Other topics raised at the meeting included: the district’s plan to survey awareness and use of separate “fifth-day” programming (the district said staff will send a follow-up survey with staff members Sarah and Betsy), questions about substitute-teacher demand (the district said it will gather substitute usage data), and local high-school concerns about trimester scheduling and course sequencing. Staff noted that some high-school teachers and coaches reported benefits from the trimester model for student engagement and for aligning academics with extracurriculars, while others asked the district to show concrete benchmarks (D/F rates, AP enrollment, remediation counts and other measures) when reporting outcomes.
The district said it will continue sharing both qualitative and quantitative findings with the school board and the public, solicit further input via the posted QR code and follow up on specific data requests (attendance trends, substitute counts and fifth-day program utilization).
