A growing number of school districts across the country are switching to four-day school weeks to cut costs and recruit and retain teachers, but so far there are no plans to do away with the five-day school week in Highland County.

Lynchburg-Clay Local Superintendent Jack Fisher said he has talked to colleagues informally about the four-day week in schools, but has no current plans to implement it in the district.

“I can tell you this kind of talk is going to amp up as it gets harder and harder to find people and fill spots, but we’ve not had any formal conversations about it as of yet,” said Fisher. “We don’t want to burn out our teachers, so you kind of look at all the possibilities and consider if that is something that could work here.”

Fisher said cost savings are another possible advantage of a four-day school week. “Obviously, if you didn’t have school one day a week, food service costs and labor would go down, so I know that’s why some people are looking at it because then people are only working four days a week instead of five, and you could save some money,” he said.

Some schools are using the extra day to help students. “Butler Tech down in Butler County did it so that kids could job shadow and do internships, and then kids that need help still come in on that fifth day, but not all their staff works,” said Fisher.

Fisher said a change to a four-day school week would only need to be approved by the local board of education. “You would notify the state, but we go by hours now, so as long as you meet the minimum state requirements for the amount of hours in the school year, you could structure your day however you like,” he said.

Bright Local School District Superintendent Jason Iles said he believes it is important to maintain a five-day school week.

“We really value the five days of education and having the kids in the seats, and we’re still attacking the learning loss that most of the kids in our area have seen over the past during the pandemic, so we’re really focused on getting them back on track,” said Iles. “I can’t say enough about having the kids in the building five days a week, and when you really dig into it and see some of these kids’ stories, they love being here every day.”

Greenfield Exempted Superintendent Quincey Gray and Hillsboro City Superintendent Tim Davis both said they are familiar with the four-day school trend, but neither have plans to implement it in their districts.

Fairfield Local Superintendent Kesia McCoy also said there are no plans for a four-day school week in the district.

Reach John Hackley at 937-402-2571.