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Hernando board asks staff to study four‑day high school week, seek stakeholder input
Summary
Board members discussed piloting a four‑day school week for high schools, asked staff to research other districts’ experiences and to prepare a stakeholder survey and committee; no formal vote was taken.
Hernando County School Board members debated piloting a four‑day school week for high‑school students and asked district staff to research implementation details and stakeholder views.
Board member Missus Bontzik proposed starting a pilot for high schools on a Tuesday–Friday schedule, saying a four‑day week could “increase our attendance,” boost morale and improve grades while reducing discipline incidents. The board’s superintendent said other districts’ plans show a mix of approaches to meet minimum instructional days and hours, and highlighted employee bargaining implications.
The board discussed logistics including required instructional minutes, whether to lengthen each school day or lengthen the calendar, transportation impacts of running two pickup/drop‑off schedules, effects on sports scheduling, and childcare needs for families with younger students. Superintendent Ray Pinder said, “There’s a minimum number of days, but there’s also a minimum number of hours,” and noted many districts extend daily minutes by 45–60 minutes in four‑day models.
Board members recommended a staged approach. Several members favored starting with high schools as a pilot to limit disruption while others argued a district‑wide pilot would avoid inconveniencing families with students at multiple levels. The board asked staff to gather data from districts that have implemented four‑day weeks (including a district referenced as already starting a pilot) and to prepare a survey for parents, students and staff.
Board members and staff emphasized that changes affecting employees’ hours would be a bargaining issue. Pinder also recommended forming a staff‑community committee to develop answers to likely pain points—transportation, sports scheduling and on‑campus care for students on the off day—before widely publicizing a survey. A board member asked staff to aim to bring a survey draft and research back for board review by July 1.
No motion or formal vote occurred during the informal meeting; members agreed only to direct staff research and stakeholder engagement.
