Cartwright board weighs return to five-day school week as teachers, parents and staff urge caution

The Cartwright Elementary School District governing board on Wednesday heard a sustained public outcry against a proposed return to a five-day school week and received data from Acting Superintendent Steven Watson showing low state proficiency rates that he said underpin the conversation.

Acting Superintendent Steven Watson told the board the discussion is driven by student achievement. He said district test data show roughly 8,728 students took the most recent state assessment, and characterized district performance as having about 4 percent of students “highly proficient” and roughly 19 percent “proficient,” with large numbers classified as partially or minimally proficient. Watson presented options including keeping the current four-day week, switching to five days, a hybrid model, or lengthening the school year to preserve instructional minutes.

The Cartwright Education Association’s president, Laurie Richards, urged the board to postpone any decision until a thorough financial forecast and a comprehensive strategic plan are completed. “We are already a district operating in a deficit,” Richards said, adding that the majority of parents and most staff support remaining on the four-day model and warning that “this change drives away staff.”

Teachers who spoke during the meeting described tangible benefits from the four-day schedule. Michelle Saldana, a sixth-grade math teacher at Holiday Park, disputed an assertion she heard at a roundtable that “96 percent of our students cannot read, write, or do math,” and cited her campus’s proficiency figures — she said 45 percent of sixth-graders passed ELA and 36.7 percent passed math on recent assessments. Emily Craigo, a special-education teacher, said the four-day week improved staff retention and family scheduling.

Watson reported results from a district employee questionnaire: about 950 responses were returned and he said approximately 662 respondents indicated they would not intend to return if the district returned to five days; Watson presented that number as roughly 41 percent of employees when extrapolated to the district’s ~1,600 employees. He also presented an estimated fiscal range for a fifth day that has been discussed publicly (Watson referenced figures between $1.5 million and $6 million) and said district staff are studying efficiencies that could fund a change.

Several teachers and principals told the board that adding minutes alone would not address instructional issues; they pressed for investment in targeted tutoring, intervention and classroom supports. A classroom teacher asked the board to compare current staffing and intervention supports with the resources that would be required to make a schedule change effective.

Board members repeatedly requested a consolidated, written strategic report that combines principal feedback, financial analysis, staffing sheets and recommended interventions before any vote. “We need a comprehensive report,” one board member said, asking staff to produce the detailed plans and cost projections that the board would need to weigh a calendar change.

The board did not take a final vote on schedule changes Wednesday. Members agreed to continue gathering information and to include teachers, principals and the Cartwright Education Association in further conversations. The board scheduled follow-up work and signaled that any change would come only after additional study and public discussion.