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'I obviously was not for it': Some parents concerned with Post Falls testing four-day school week

One of the top concerns is finding childcare for Fridays students aren't in class.

POST FALLS, Idaho — Post Falls School District is trying out something new next year. Starting in September, all schools will shift to a four-day week, cutting classes nearly every Friday.

The district will join about 80 other Idaho districts and charter schools that have a four-day week; Superintendent Dena Naccarato says Post Falls will be the largest Idaho district to adopt the trend.

For Naccarato, the idea started last summer. 

“We have turned over a third of our certificated staff in the last two years," she said. "I started to wonder, ‘Is time worth more than money?’”

So the question was asked in three different parent surveys.

In the first survey in October 2022, 67% of parents wanted to know more about the Monday-Thursday schedule.

A second survey in November showed 63% were in favor.

“Which blew my mind," Naccarato said. "I thought, 'Times are changing.' I think if we would’ve asked this question prior to COVID or even ten years ago, people would’ve said no. No.”

For the 2023-2034 school year, classes will be cut on Friday except if holidays fall on Monday. 

The school days will also be longer by 45 minutes for high school and 25 for the youngest students to meet state instructional hour requirements.

Not everyone is one board.

“I obviously was not for it," says Haley Nystrom, who has a first grader and two twins preparing for kindergarten in the district. "I definitely voiced my concerns on the survey.”

Nystrom worries one less day of school will add up big in childcare costs and stress for families.

“If they weren’t in a position where their kids were already in a childcare, it’s going to be super hard to find something for just Friday," she said of other parents.

Nystrom's oldest uses the district's before and after-school childcare program, called GAP. That program will be free for currently enrolled families for those school-free Fridays next year; the district has partnered with the Boys and Girls Club for another low-cost option.

Though Nystrom says even that poses potential problems.

“Last year they had an issue with not even having enough GAP teachers to have the GAP program at each of the Post Falls schools locations," she said.

That's the biggest reason for the district's schedule switch: to attract and keep teachers.

“Wages are not something that’s just at my discretion to raise to meet what’s happening in Washington," Naccarato said of teaching positions in the neighboring state. "I think everybody knows the vast majority of our funding comes from the state and our state funding formula is much different than Washington’s, so we’d never be able to compete with those wages.”

A shorter week may not be the answer, Naccarato says, but it's a test worth taking to find out. The district will do another survey to test how the four-day week is working in the spring.

“If it’s a higher attendance rate and staff retention and test scores continue to go up and parents are happy, why would we change back? But we’ll see," she said. "I think people will be watching us to see how does this go.”

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