The decision made by the Montezuma-Cortez School Board Re-1 earlier this year to go back to a five-day school week was based on student achievement, board members and school administrators are saying.
However, that achievement is not cheap.
Interim Superintendent Mary Rubadeau said the biggest cost increase will be from its transportation service department, since students will now have to be transported to and from school five days a week rather than four days a week.
Rubadeau said if Re-1 maintained the bus service routes it now uses with an additional day, more than $300,000 would be the added cost.
To offset that cost, Rubadeau and the Re-1 board are thinking about cutting bus service routes from two to one. She said doing this would make up $130,000 of the $300,000 cost.
She said when the board decided to go to a four-day school week several years ago, studies showed it would save $200,000 in the first year.
Rubadeau said while the savings were there, the downside was the educational quality of instruction students were receiving. She said the long days were affecting student achievement since students were getting out of school after 4 p.m.
The tentative schedule for students at the high school next year is 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and from 8:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday.
Districts dont go to a four-day week to raise student achievement, she said. They do that to raise money.
She also said this usually is done with smaller school districts with fewer students.
Rubadeau said data shows student achievement has decreased or remained flat at all schools except the middle school after Re-1 went to a four-day school week.
She stressed the district has to look at the improvement impacts because of the five-year improvement plan the Colorado Department of Education placed on the Re-1.
She said not improving could have dramatic effects because the state could take over accreditation, causing some graduates not able to attend certain colleges.
Re-1 Board President Tim Lanier conceded that student achievement was already low when the board voted to go to a four-day school week, so the achievement is not going to improve just by going back to a five-day school week.
We had to see if it did what we thought it might, he said in referencing the savings the four-day school week could bring.
He said the trade off of savings for student achievement was not one the board could continue to make. He said one principal told him the four-day model prevented his school from doing everything it needed.
That is why the board made the decision it did, he said.
He said changes will be incorporated into the new schedule that hopefully will improve student performance.
Rubadeau said the community and members of Re-1 met a few months ago to discuss ways of improving student achievement and came up with a comprehensive plan.
One reason why students will leave school an hour earlier on Wednesday is so teachers can have professional development as well as the opportunity to collaborate with other teachers on instructional methods that work.
Lanier said it really is no secret that something had to change after student achievement did not really improve last year even with the Department of Educations mandate that Re-1 had to improve.
We got three more years, and that was a concern, he said. There just wasnt time in trying to cram everything into four days. It was not working.
Rubadeau said rumors that programs may have to be cut or downsized are not true, not in the sense of art, music and other specialized classes and especially the core subjects, and Lanier agreed.
We have never had that discussion. The board has not had any discussions to do away with (special) activities, he said.
Lanier later backtracked, saying it is difficult to know if any programs would have to be cut because the school district is still building its budget.
I hope we could find savings, so that we would not have to cut (any programs), he said and added the district does not know the amount of funds it will receive from the state.
Everything is on the table, he said.
Board member Pete Montaño reiterated what Rubadeau said about smaller school districts going to a four-day school week to save funds.
Montaño said there is a misconception that the district would save money in utility costs if the school was only open four days a week as opposed to five days.
He said during the winter months, the schools had to remain heated at some level to prevent pipes from freezing. He also said while there were no classes on Friday, the facilities were still used for certain activities.
Montaño said it all comes down to the best way to successfully teach students.
If you are saving money, but not educating children that is not the kind of trade off I want to see, he said.
He also believes teachers and staff favored having a three-day weekend and many considered it a perk and a trade off for not receiving a raise in the last four years.
Montaño said for the Re-1 to remain a four-day school week, the Department of Education would have had to sign off on that waiver and it likely would not have been approved.
We are not revisiting our decision, he said.
Rubadeau said the district now has an overall plan to improve schools and mentioned a new strategic plan to improve student achievements that was discussed in February. She said the next step is developing an action plan on when and where things will occur.
She also said the community and the public needs to be patient to give the strategies the time about three years to determine if they are working.
Rubadeau also said these strategies could not have been done if the board had decided to not change back to a five-day school week because there was no time to do so in the current schedule.
Michael Maresh can be reached at michaelm@cortezjournal.com