INDEPENDENCE, Mo — This is the first summer for the Independence School District after implementing a four-day school week.
Superintendent Dale Herl said the shortened model has attracted an influx of teachers to the school system.
The number of teacher applications went up by more than 360%.
"The four-day school week has gone even better than we could've hoped for," Herl said. "Classrooms filled with teachers, all bus driver positions filled and only one open route. In my 15 years, that's never happened."
When the shortened school week was still in the discussion stage, parents like Shawna Ferguson, with a 16-year-old and recent graduate, were not on board.
"I worried a lot about the elementary kids because it's a long day going until almost 4:30 p.m. and what parents would do on that Monday," Ferguson said.
Since a school year of the four-day week is over, Ferguson can say there were some positives.
"My senior did a great job — he used that Monday to get caught up on his assignments to turn in the next day," she said. "A lot of his friends did classes at the community college on that Monday to get started with their college careers."
Since Ferguson's family is moving, they won't be able to head to the polls next year and vote on keeping the four-day week.
Missouri Senate Bill 727 allows Independence voters to decide if they want the model to stay in November 2025.
"That's what I wanted to begin with," Ferguson said.
However, the superintendent feels the legislation targets the Independence School District and takes control from the school board.
"This very much singles the Independence School District out; we are the only school district that would fit into that category that operates a four-day week," Herl said. "There are more than 170 school districts in Missouri that have a four-day school week; it’s been going on for more than a decade."
The new law is only for school districts with more than 30,000 people or districts operating a "charter form of government."
ISD is also one of a few school districts in the state being audited not just on finances but curriculum and performance, partially because of their four-day model.
A press release from the auditor's office last month stated: "While schools are required by law to have financial audits every year, they rarely have audits that evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of district operations. While the State Auditor's Office has the authority to perform such audits of the more than 500 school districts in Missouri, previous administrations had on average produced one school district audit per year, with some of those only occurring following a successful petition by district residents which gathered the minimum number of signatures required to trigger a state audit."
KSHB 41 followed up to ask what triggered the review beyond the four-day model.
"Given the fact that education is the second largest expenditure of taxpayer funds in Missouri, and given the fact it is the job of the Auditor to be a watchdog for taxpayers, Auditor Fitzpatrick thinks it is prudent to more regularly review funds spent on education, especially given the low levels of proficiency of Missouri's public school students in core subjects," Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick's office said in a statement. "Also, it's important to point out that it is not rare to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of operations. That is a standard performance audit objective that is included in every audit we do, regardless of entity type."
KSHB 41 also asked questions about how they will measure performance or an effective curriculum.
"The Auditor's Office will initially do survey work where we will take a broad look at district operations, including: reviewing compliance with federal and state statute, DESE rules and regulations, and district policies and procedures; and the efficiency and effectiveness of certain operations," Fitzpatrick's office said in a statement. "After the survey work is complete, the audit plan will be established. For curriculum, to the extent that there are rules and regulations on how it is determined, that is also something the SAO has full discretion to audit. This work will be done by staff from the State Auditor's Office."
The auditor's office said it is difficult to estimate a timeline, but it will take several months. Results might be released in late 2024 or early 2025.
Herl said the timing was interesting but they've been fully cooperative.
"It's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm very confident in the way we conduct business," he said. "If there’s something we can do more efficiently, it’s something we’re always looking to do."
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