Year one: Four-day week

At long last, spring is in the air, and with the belated seasonal change comes another round of four-day week surveys.

For those who may not be aware, the district committed to surveying staff, students, and parents about their experiences with the four-day week. These surveys are being conducted twice this school year; once last fall and again coming up toward the end of May.

Last fall the district surveyed over 3,000 people and the response was very positive. The district also learned some things that could be improved and have worked toward making the schedule better as a result. Anyone interested in those results can visit our home page (www.northbranch.k12.mn.us) and click on “Four-day school week information” on the left side. On the research page under “monitoring” is a presentation and the complete survey report given to the school board in December.

We are excited that we have been able to make some improvements to the process, including the ability for all students to take the survey electronically, greatly reducing costs associated with printing and data collection.

Another change; if you are a parent, you will be receiving a postcard in the next two weeks with instructions on how to take the survey. Last fall, parent surveys were conducted at parent/teacher conferences.

As we near the end of the first year of implementation, the anecdotal evidence we have received has been very positive and we are so grateful for the partnerships that have made the schedule as successful as it has been. We will be analyzing savings as the end of the fiscal year draws near to make sure it is accomplishing what we hoped. Of course, as in all things, we will report those findings to you.

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