Louisiana School Board to Vote on 4-Day Week for 2024-25 Year

Jennings, LA (KPEL News) - The Jeff Davis Parish School Board could vote Thursday, February 22, on whether to join at least 10 other Louisiana school districts in Louisiana in implementing a 4-day hybrid school week. That configuration would implement 8 five-day school weeks during the year, with the remainder being 4-day weeks, so the calendar includes the state-required mandate for instructional time.

The Louisiana Revised Statute regarding school requirements is lengthy and, essentially, mandates that the school year for students in grades one through 12 must include 63,720 minutes per year. It allows schools to modify the number of days and the number of instructional minutes per day as long as the total number doesn’t fall below that threshold.

Schools across Louisiana and the country have moved to the 4-day a week schedule to both decrease costs to school systems and recruit teachers. North Caddo Magnet High School, the only school in Caddo Parish to operate on a shorter week, uses the modified schedule as a recruiting tool. Livingston Parish is considering it as a way to increase teacher morale.

Acadia Parish rolled out the 4-day schedule for all schools in the district in 2023-24. Schools in the parish's very rural 5th Ward have operated on the schedule for at least 20 years.

The following Louisiana school districts are currently operating on a 4-day hybrid schedule:

Acadia Parish
Cameron Parish
Evangeline Parish
Bogalusa City Schools
Grant Parish
LaSalle Parish
Avoyelles Parish
Caldwell Parish
Franklin Parish
Beauregard Parish—will implement for 2024-25 school year

The Jeff Davis Parish survey was sent out in October and presented to the board ahead of Thursday's meeting.

Question 1: “I believe the Jefferson Davis Parish School System should consider a Hybrid 4-Day School Week for staff and students.”

6-8 grade students
- 86.6% - Yes
- 13.4% - No
9-12 grade students
- 77.3% - Yes
- 22.7% - No
Staff
- 84.1% - Yes
- 15.9% - No
Stakeholders
- 64.6% - Yes
- 35.4% - No

Question 2 asked what preference each group had for start times. Six options were offered. You can see those results here.

Question 3: “My preference for the weekly non-school day on any proposed 4-Day week is…”

6-8 grade students
- 64.7% - Monday
- 26.3% - Friday
- 8.9% - Not in favor of 4-day school week
9-12 grade students
- 51.1% - Monday
- 31.1% - Friday
- 17.8% - Not in favor of 4-day school week
Staff
- 55.7% - Monday
- 32.2% - Tuesday
- 12.2% - Not in favor of 4-day school week
Stakeholders
- 28.6% - Monday
- 37.8% - Friday
- 33.6% - Not in favor of 4-day school week

Question 4: “Describe your current position towards a Hybrid 4-Day School/Work week proposal.” (Note: This question was only posed to Staff and Stakeholders.)