CHINA SPRING, Texas — Year two of a solution to China Spring ISD's problem is a restructured school week. Teachers said their method is working just fine.
- Better work-life balance
- Better morale
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“It’s been a positive experience for me as a teacher and as a mom with my kiddos,“ says teacher Whitney Carter.
Throughout the six years of teaching, Carter teacher says the last two years provided a better work-life balance.
It’s year two that China Spring ISD spearheaded the way for a four-day school week in our area.
And their teachers are seeing the benefits all around.
“They are still thriving and learning…another measure of success for me in my classroom is just...are my students becoming better people in general? Are they becoming kinder individuals?" said Carter.
Back in 2022, the school district held a meeting, with the community being open about their struggles with student and staff attendance and teacher retention.
However, this type of openness was needed to make the necessary changes from a five-day school week to a four-day school week.
One theater teacher told me some of the changes for her were internal.
“I think it’s just more about morale. You know wanting to feel supported by our community, by our administration, and feeling seen knowing that we need that extra time," said Mandy Conner, a High School Theater Teacher at China Spring ISD.
So how much did the school district see improvement since their switch? According to China Spring ISD for the 2023-24 academic year, the district budgeted based on a 95% attendance rate.
At the end of the school year, the district reported a 1% increase which resulted in an additional $400,000 in funding released to the district from the State of Texas.
For Carter, scheduling a new school week is key.
“Normally, we would have we would have spread it out over five days, we would. have had stations, go longer. Or, you know, shorter amounts of time depending on, you have another day to spread it out. between, and you don't have that extra day. So you adjust the times of your activities in your classroom," said Carter.
While the idea of a shorter week was meant to fix attendance and retention issues, it also fixed another problem that may not have been on the district list.
“It gives us a lot of freedom but also it gives us that luxury of a little bit more time," said Conner.
“I don’t have to stress as much during the week," said Carter.
