Avoyelles School District gets midterm update on 4-day week

After one semester of a four-day school week, the jury is still out on whether the change will yield the desired results.

Superintendent Blaine Dauzat told the Avoyelles School Board Education Committee on Dec. 17 that the new schedule has allowed the district to put more fully certified and provisionally certified teachers in the classrooms, reducing the need for long-term substitutes.

It has also reduced the number of teacher absences, further reducing the need for substitutes.

However, he noted, the effect on student absences “is disappointing.”

So far this year, there has been an average of 93.64 percent of the district’s students in class. That’s an absence rate of 6.36 percent. That compares to a 6.11 percent rate for this past school year.

CALDWELL’S EXPERIENCE

“In Caldwell Parish when we went from five-day to four-day -- and I was there then -- there was a reduction in teacher and student absences,” Dauzat said after the committee meeting. “Due to fewer absences, the students were in front of a certified teacher more days during the school year with the 4-day week than they had been going five days a week,” he added. Dauzat said the student absence rate is particularly concerning because “when a student misses a day now, it is like missing 1 1/4 days.”

On the positive side, the superintendent said he is excited that the district is able to fill the teaching positions with “what the state considers certified” teachers, relying less on substitutes for absences and long-term substitutes in positions where the district could not find a certified teacher.

Dauzat said there are 287 teacher positions with 276 filled and 11 vacant at this time.

That includes 214 “fully certified” teachers, 22 retired teachers who have returned to the classroom, 30 on temporary certification working toward certification and 10 positions filled with uncertified teachers. That is a much better position than the district has been in at this time in previous school years, he noted.

Dauzat said there is “not enough information yet” for him to reach a conclusion on whether the four-day week is successful or not.

He said that information on attendance, hiring and academic results will be prepared each month to help board members decide on whether to continue the 4-day week when they adopt the 2020-21 school calendar this spring.

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