VICTOR SCHOOL FOUR DAY SCHOOL WEEK 2006-2007

1. VICTOR SCHOOL FOUR DAY SCHOOL WEEK 2006-2007 Prepared by Luanne Bauman, District Clerk

2. CONTACT INFORMATION LUANNE BAUMAN 425 4TH AVE VICTOR, MT 59875 406-642-3221 Ext. 264 bauman@victor.k12.mt.us

3. SPECIFIC DEMOGRAPHICS OF VICTOR SCHOOL DISTRICT #7 • Large Class “C” School • 342 Total Students, 129 in High School • Our students participate in most events

4. SPECIFIC DEMOGRAPHICS OF VICTOR SCHOOL DISTRICT #7 • 2 Administrators, 27 Certified Staff, 22 Classified Support Staff • Shared staff – so block scheduling is not an option • Classifieds are not unionized

5. SPECIFIC DEMOGRAPHICS OF VICTOR SCHOOL DISTRICT #7 • Small district, distance wise • Four bus routes, the longest being 23.5 miles • Student population tends to move in and out easily • Three Class A schools within 15 miles

6. OUR SCHOOL DAY • Teacher Time Begins 7:45 am • Warning Bell 8:10 am • 1st Period Begins 8:15 am • Class periods average 62 minutes • 7th Period Ends 4:15 pm • Teacher Time Ends 4:45 pm

7. OUR SCHOOL DAY • 145 student days • Teachers can opt for flex time (exchange time to end of day or to beginning) • No early outs • Teachers have a very productive in-service on Friday mornings about once a month

8. OUR SCHOOL DAY • One week for spring break • School begins the Tuesday after Labor Day • School ends June 11th

9. PUBLIC CONCERNS • Items of concern that were raised from public meetings: • Increased vandalism at school and in the community • What are the children going to do on Friday? • Decrease in enrollment • Too long of a day for younger students • Grades will suffer (quality of education) • Will not get through curriculum

10. VICTOR SCHOOL GOALS • HAVE ESTABLISHED GOALS • Increase Attendance • Increase Class Time • Increase or Maintain Test Scores • Reduce Substitutes and Associated Costs • Reduce Utility Costs • Reduce Transportation Costs • Boost Morale

11. DO’S AND DON’TS • Publish in the local newspaper the dates of any public input needed and the final decision. Most newspapers will be happy to write a few articles prior to the fact for you.

12. DO’S AND DON’TS • Do some leg work for working parents of elementary children. Make a list of all daycare providers in your area. If you don’t have any - work with churches, youth groups, service groups, Kids First, etc. This will be one of your biggest issues and one of the hardest to overcome and answer.

13. DO’S AND DON’TS • Plan early. Start the process at least 1-2 years before the time of change. What you are doing now does count. • Make sure your board meeting agendas explain the topic well, so the district membership and community can understand.

14. DO’S AND DON’TS • Newsletters, flyers to students, surveys, the more information out there the better. TV and radio spots, if available.

15. DO’ AND DON’TS • State specifically why you are doing this. Don’t expect too much as far as saving money. Yes, that is a big reason, but you don’t save a flat 20%. • Be careful about talking too much regarding athletics. Elementary parents don’t want to hear about this.

16. DO’S AND DON’TS • Have a class do a report on the impact before (Pros and Cons) the switch and after the fact (How this has impacted the students). This is important to let the students have a say in this too. It’s great PR. We had our senior writing class do this. Very beneficial to document how this is affecting our student body.

17. DO’S AND DON’TS • Remember to change all wording in contracts, handbooks, collective bargaining agreements, travel specifications, any document that states days.

18. DO’S AND DON’TS • Think how this will impact your classified employees too. You want to keep morale positive.

19. DO’S AND DON’TS • Plan your school calendar early, this is a bigger issue than you think.

20. DO’S AND DON’TS • Plan your athletic calendar early. We sort of did, but not fully, mainly because the calendars were set up almost a full year in advance. • All sports on Thursday, Friday and Saturday • Exception is JV Football is still on Mondays • Combine games as much as possible (Middle School Football before Varsity games)

21. RESULTS SO FAR • Did decrease parental excused absences • Did not really reduce classified wages • Field trip time was usually Friday – now we don’t have an “extra day” • Reduced our ability to feed our needy students one day

22. RESULTS SO FAR • Did reduce custodial contractual labor by 50% • Did bring our classified starting wages and benefits up and made them attractive to prospective applicants. • Did reduce food costs by 16%

23. RESULTS SO FAR • District is providing snacks for grades 1-5, which seems to be a tremendous asset for academics and discipline. An addition to our budget though. • Teachers state that they are ahead of curriculum at all age levels

24. RESULTS SO FAR • Criminal activity has decreased by 50% on Fridays during school hours. • Suspicious activity had remained the same on Fridays during school hours.

25. RESULTS SO FAR • We increased classified wages an average of 20% • Provided full health insurance for classifieds working over 50% FTE • Remember to work around schedules to utilize the custodian staff. Ours still work 5 eight hour days.

26. RESULTS SO FAR • Did reduce our transportation costs immediately by 12%

27. UNEXPECTED RESULTS • Enrollment increased 7%, which 2% was documented direct result of the 4 day school week • Discipline referrals, detention, ISS and OSS has been reduced by 40% • Absences from school related activities went down 80% • GPA’s have not been affected so far

28. ABSENCESTHROUGH MAY

29. GOALS MET OR NOT • Increased attendance • Increased class time • We improved our test scores - made AYP • Has reduced substitute teachers & associated costs by 16% • Has reduced utilities costs by 24% • Has reduced transportation costs by 12% • Has boosted staff morale

30. WAS IT WORTH THE HASSLE? • Not sure – still early yet! • Staff (certified and classified) are quite happy with the schedule • Middle school and high school students are happy with it, but want to add a nutrition break into the day

31. WAS IT WORTH THE HASSLE? • Really need five years of data to compare • Some elementary parents are still disagreeing over the new schedule • You will never make everyone happy!

32. THINGS WE MAY CHANGE FOR FY08 • Develop a plan to regulate field trips, assemblies, and other activities that are disruptive during the school day. • Utilize staff better. Almost had to live through it, to understand the needs. Have teachers cover detention, individual student needs. • Try to schedule extra-curricular activities on Thursday, Friday and Saturday