RIVERSIDE

The hallways at Highland’s High School/Junior High School and Highland Elementary were strangely quiet Friday.

There were no school buses pulling into the parking lots.

There were no crossing guards.

But there were still teachers on a work day.

History hit Highland this past week when the school district’s new four-day week emerged during the first full week of school.

“I believe we are set to roll,” said Ken Crawford, Highland Schools Superintendent. “We have most of the bumps worked out. When I say that, I don’t know what bumps are coming our way yet.

“I feel like we’ve worked out our calendar, we ‘ve worked out our schedules.”

Plans for a four-day school week began a year ago when discussions with teachers revealed that most preferred a four-day format although they’ll still be working five days. Friday, for example, teachers will participate in an in-service development day, something that previously was squeezed into tight schedules on an ordinary school day.

Not all weeks will see a four-day format. Next week is one of the four weeks in the 2024-25 school year that classes will be held on Fridays. But that is also due to the Labor Day holiday September 2.

But this week, the four-day format, combined with Labor Day, gives students and their families a four-day weekend.

“When people are used to it, I really believe, when we get into the rhythm of it, they’ll appreciate that time they spend with their kids and/or have the freedom to go do the things they want to do on a weekend,” Crawford said. “Or just have that extra time for rest recovery and just having a breath. Being able to take the chance to breathe a little bit.”

“For us, probably,” said Riverside Mayor Allen Schneider, who has children in the school system, “it gives us some flexibility to do things on the weekend that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to do.”

The School Board approved the new format last February, but not all agreed with the plan, some due to childcare concerns on Fridays. Monica Jepson, Board Vice President, voted against the proposal after speaking with multiple district parents who were not in favor of it.

Jepson was the only board member to vote against it and still feels that way now.

“I had a lot of community members reach out to me after the vote and were happy that I stuck my ground and was a voice for them,” Jepson told The News. “They felt like they weren’t being heard by others. I tried to be a voice for those that weren’t able to have one.”

At about the same time that Highland approved the four-day plan, the Lone Tree School Board voted down a similar plan.

When explaining the new format to the Highland School Board last year, Crawford said many school districts, especially the smaller ones, are talking about moving to four-day school weeks and it may be necessary to do that just to both retain and recruit teachers.

When told of the four-day week during the interviewing process, new elementary teacher Mackenzie Streveler replied: “Sweet.”

Emma Christensen, a new elementary teacher and a 2024 University of Iowa graduate who student taught at Highland, said, “I feel coming in on those Fridays gives me the opportunity to come in refreshed and have a better opportunity to engage with my colleagues, to collaborate with my colleagues, and also that time where I can prep for the next week without having to feel like, ‘Oh, I’m at school ‘til 6 o’clock because I don’t have this prepped for tomorrow or I have to stay because I need this for next week.’”

Crawford is also superintendent of schools at WACO, which moved to a four-day week 10 years ago. There will likely be similarities between the two districts since Crawford oversees both of them.

“For me, being liaison between those two buildings, two districts, has been very beneficial for us,” Crawford said.

“I’m not anxious,” he added. “I’ve lived it. I know it works.”

The new format has resulted in a longer school day by 45 minutes. Classes will start earlier and end later than they did a year ago.

Activities, including athletic practices and games, will go on as they always have.

“I’ll be interested to see what the students say about it after a couple weeks, a couple Fridays,” Crawford said. “I’ll be interested to see what the staff says.”

The four-day format created 12 Fridays that will be used for teacher professional days. After this week, the next one is September 13.

School is scheduled to finish up for the year May 28, two days after Memorial Day.