ARNOLD, Mo. – There is plenty of talk Tuesday morning surrounding one of the larger school districts in the area about moving to a 4-day school week. The Fox C-6 School District in Jefferson County is exploring the idea.
The Fox C-6 Service Center off Jeffco Boulevard is where the first of four public meetings on the issue was held Monday night. District officials are calling the meetings ‘community conversations.’
Those at Monday night’s meeting heard from, among others, Dr. Jon Turner. He’s a professor at Missouri State University who researches the impact of 4-day school weeks. Fox C-6 Superintendent Paul Fregeau says the district is looking into a 4-day week to help address budget issues. He explained that the district is losing students and pandemic funds are running out.
Parents at the meeting wrote down long lists of concerns they have with the potential switch. Fregeau said in the past that Fox might consider going to a 4-day week to save money if district voters did not approve a tax levy increase last August.
That measure failed.
Fregeau told FOX 2 that swtiching to a 4-day week across the district could cut up to $3 million in budget costs.
“It’s the mileage on your vehicles, the diesel that you use,” Fregeau shared. “Wear and tear on your buses; you know it’s 20% less. Fewer subs, fewer absences, and PE time can be on Mondays, so we’re not pulling people out of class during the week. Those are some primary savings.”
Next week, at the second community meeting, people will hear from the Independence School District superintendent. Independence is the largest school district in Missouri so far to go to a 4-day schedule.
Fox could be the second-largest district in the state to make the move. 168 districts in Missouri have gone to 4-day weeks. That’s about a third of the state’s total districts.
