Crosby ISD-Our Journey to the Four-Day School Week

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT/ COMMUNITY.

Crosby ISD serves the needs of more than 6,700 children in the communities of Crosby and Barrett Station in East Harris County. We emphasize a strong feedback loop and visibility. During campus visits in the late summer of 2022, Superintendent Patterson heard from many district employees inquiring about the possibility of Crosby ISD adopting a four-day instructional week. The idea also became prevalent during community surveys about creative ways we could change our academic calendar to retain and recruit exceptional teachers. The four-day instructional week reinforces our core of innovation, with pillars focused on taking care of students and taking care of staff. We know spending four days with an exceptional teacher is more productive for our students than spending five days with a less effective teacher. Our fourday instructional week extends instructional time well beyond the mandatory 75,600 minutes required by state law. Our calendar is a hybrid calendar, beginning and ending the year with traditional five-day instructional weeks in August, mid-April, and May. Fourday instructional weeks will be implemented from September through mid-April.

TELL US ABOUT THE PROCESS THE DISTRICT WENT THROUGH TO IMPLEMENT YOUR FOUR-DAY INSTRUCTIONAL WEEK.

Community Meetings:

There was an extensive process to seek feedback. The district launched three separate community surveys during the fall/ winter/spring of the 2022-2023 School Year. Each survey became increasingly more specific about the possible impact a four-day instructional week could have on our families. There were a series of meetings with individual community groups, including daycare operators and pastors. We also held two meetings open to all community members, the first meeting was through Zoom, followed by an in-person meeting. Everyone who attended had the opportunity to ask questions. Superintendent Patterson and her Cabinet also traveled to each campus for staff meetings. The staff had a chance to ask questions following Superintendent Patterson’s presentation. Each campus and employee group took instant polls to gauge support among district employees. The instant polls showed no less than 78% support and up to 100% support among employee groups. Due to feedback from the community, we changed our initial plan of designating Mondays as Student Holidays. Instead, Fridays will be Student Holidays from September 8 through April 12. We heard from families that Fridays were the easier day for them to find childcare or work remotely from home.

Web Postings:

Each community survey was posted in the weekly District newsletter, on social media platforms, and on the district’s website. To add a layer of security, the link to the surveys was never posted directly on social media. The link shared on social media was the link to the district newsletter where families and community members could then find the link to the survey.

School Board Meetings: change to major holiday schedule.

The survey results were shared with the Board of Trustees during two meetings in winter 2022. The first was a special-called Board meeting where each Cabinet member discussed the impact of the four-day instructional week. This was a two-hour long meeting that went through the research the Superintendent’s Cabinet had developed brainstorming about what a four-day week would look like. This meeting was shown live on the district’s YouTube Channel and then available for viewing. The Board voted on the calendar at the next regularly scheduled meeting.

Longer School Year (start earlier/ end later)?

This year will start August 7, 2023, four days earlier than the 20222023 school year. The year will end May 30, 2024, four days later than the 2022-2023 school year. Many neighboring school districts have about the same start and end dates for their traditional academic calendar.

Longer School Days?

Each school day will be 20 minutes longer per day for secondary campuses and 25 minutes longer for elementary campuses. Any Additional Information?

In the past, we designated late starts on Wednesdays for secondary students and four Fridays off for elementary students so our staff could attend “Planned Learning Communities” (PLC) staff development days. These professional learning times for staff will now be held one Friday a month, which will be designated as Staff Development Fridays.

HOW ARE YOU HANDLING: Childcare concerns for non-school days:

We partnered with the YMCA to provide low (or no cost if they qualify) childcare after-school Monday through Thursdays and the Fridays that students are off. Childcare will be implemented at a central campus within the district. A local business stepped forward and has offered a substantial subsidy so that the reduced rate for our families can be discounted even more.

Extra-curricular activities that occur on “non-school” day: Extra-curriculars will still take place on Fridays as needed.

Athletic/fine arts/etc. practices: Practices for athletics and fine arts will still take place on Fridays as permitted by UIL rules.

Hourly employees (bus drivers/ food service/custodians/ secretaries/paraprofessionals): Adjustments were made to schedules and/or salaries to ensure that no employee would take a pay cut.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW NOW AT THE END OF THE PROCESS, THAT YOU WISH YOU KNEW WHEN YOU STARTED THE PROCESS?

Feedback and flexibility are critical during the process of considering a four-day instructional week. We made an important change midway through the process when we heard from the majority of our families that having Fridays off was preferable to Mondays. Engaging with communities is critical to consider all possibilities.

DO YOU HAVE A TIMELINE/ TRIAL PERIOD?

Reassessment of the success of the new calendar will occur during the calendar planning period each year.

IS THERE ANYTHING ADDITIONAL THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD?

HOW

LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO IMPLEMENT?

We are still in the implementation process and will start this school year (23-24).

WHAT DOES YOUR 2023-2024 SCHOOL DAY/YEAR LOOK LIKE?

Less Holidays?

We do not have fewer holidays. No

Kids who receive free lunch: We have partnered with the Houston Food Bank to provide food for the Fridays off as well as the weekends for students who need that service through their Backpack Buddies program. We will also be hosting a community market once a week at our high school through the Houston Food Bank that will offer food for all families in our community that need it.

What’s good for Crosby ISD may not work for other ISDs. Our district leaders, communities, educators, staff, and families of Crosby and Barrett Station know what works for us. We would not prescribe the same strategy to a different district with different demographics, different ideals, or different traditions.