On Feb. 26, 2024, the S&S CISD Board of Trustees approved a three-year pilot of a four-day instructional week, beginning with the 2024-2025 school year.
The first day of school for students of S&S CISD will be Aug. 14, 2024, and the last day of school will be May 29, 2025.
Students will be off each Friday, while teachers and staff will be present one Friday per month for planning, professional development and department meetings.
The vote follows much research, discussion and reviewing input from both staff and parents, which included surveys and a town hall meeting.
“Research shows that having and retaining the best teachers directly impacts student achievement,” S&S CISD Superintendent Jeff Russell said. “We are dedicated to putting the very best educators in front of our students and providing them with the planning time they need to deliver high-quality instruction. We believe that moving to a four-day instructional week will help us do that.”
One of the district’s goals in exploring a four-day instructional week was increasing planning time for teachers. The choice to have Fridays as the “off-day” for students was made considering parent and staff survey results. Student extracurricular activities will continue to take place on Fridays.
“We want to be a district that supports teachers and makes the best decisions for students, even when they are bold decisions,” Russell said. “We have considered both the pros and cons and believe the benefits of a four-day instructional week outweigh the challenges.”
The district hopes that approving the calendar in February will give parents time to make arrangements to adjust to the new schedule before the beginning of the school year.
More information will be available soon at www.sscisd.net.
In addition to passing the four-day instructional week (four board members voted in favor, one abstained), other business discussed at this month’s board meeting included the approval of several donations.
The board accepted a donation from the West Grayson Retired School Personnel Association to the Elementary library in the amount of $504; a $15,000 donation for the Jay Roberts scholarship; and Book Fair Sponsors in the amount of $3,040.
The board also approved the implementation of the Play It Safe! program, a child abuse awareness and prevention program that incorporates age-appropriate scripts and videos to teach children how to reduce their risk of abuse and assault.
There was also a unanimous vote to increase spending limits from $250,000 to $450,000 for doors, hardware replacements and 3M protective film using bid/purchasing cooperatives.
The board reviewed the superintendent’s contract and voted unanimously to extend Jeff Russell’s contract by another year.