POLK COUNTY, Iowa — Last week the Martensdale-St. Mary’s School District decided to move to a four-day school week , and on Monday night another central Iowa district may join them.
On the agenda for the Saydel School Board is a vote on the school schedule for 2024-25. Two versions have been proposed, one is a traditional five-day school week, and the other is a four-day school week. The agenda says the Saydel Calendar Committee has a preference for the four-day calendar.
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The Saydel Community School District has been talking about making the change for two years because the district is losing teachers to other districts that can pay more. Enrollment has also been declining, meaning state funding has decreased.
A survey was sent out in November asking for feedback on the four-day school plan and in January the district held an open forum with parents about the issue.
Saydel Superintendent Todd Martin told WHO 13, “We’re exploring this just to kind of fill a gap with an issue we’re having in the recruitment of our teachers and if we can market ourselves in a way that will attract more people, keep people longer, and keep people longer in our district, we are very confident that we can produce better results for our community.”