by Ted Stone
Staff Writer

In the last few weeks Steve Wymore added a few extra meetings to his schedule. The Lake of the Woods School District superintendent put on a series of public meetings designed to explain what a four-day school week would be like at Lake of the Woods and why it might be necessary. The meetings have also been a way for him to learn what concerns residents of the district have about the idea.
Wymore said he has been pleased at how much interest the meetings have been getting. Turnout, he said, has been higher than the meetings held before the school levy referendum in 2007. “I’ve been surprised at the interest,” he said after a meeting held last week at Lakewood Health Center. “All of the meetings have gone well.”
That doesn’t mean there’s been any outpouring of opinion one way or the other about the issue. “It’s been mixed,” Wymore said, noting that people seem to be against the idea in approximately the same proportion others have been in favor.
Several schools in Minnesota have already decided to switch to a four-day week, including Warroad and Blackduck. For Lake of the Woods, Wymore said, the matter is coming under consideration because of budgetary constraints brought about by diminishing enrollments and the reduction of state funding. Going to a four-day schedule could save the district $70 to $90,000 a year, mostly in transportation costs, but it would also include savings in energy and the cost of substitute teachers, among other budgetary reductions.
Surprisingly, there would be no lost class hours under the plan. Lake of the Woods students would actually gain a small amount of instructional time. Wymore said only a few comprehensive studies on the effects of the four-day school week have been done, but with more than 100 school districts already using the schedule across the United States some information is available.
Minnesota’s Maccray School District has been on a four-day week since the start of the current school year. According to Wymore, the schedule has allowed students there to have more elective courses than would have otherwise been possible. Students have had improved attendance records, and so have the staff. The school district anticipates decreased discipline referrals and student achievement seems to have remained stable. In addition, students claim to have a better attitude about school.
There are troubling aspects to the four-day week as well, including the possibility of collective bargaining problems. The reduced work schedule can be unpopular with bus, cafeteria and custodial staff because of lowered income. There have also been some concerns about child-care and the supervision of students on non-schooldays.
Wymore said the decision of whether or not to go to a four-day week would be a matter for Lake of the Woods School District to decide, but at some point the lack of state funding might force the district into making the move. As things stand now, Wymore said, the budgetary measures the district has taken means it will be able to navigate the coming school year with or without going to a four-day week. It would be possible, then, to wait and see what the state does. If more cutbacks are forthcoming, then it would still be possible for the board to make the change in the 2010 - 2011 school year.