Green Forest teachers excited about new schedule

Students in the Green Forest School District got one more day to sleep in and enjoy summer break on Monday.

With the school district transitioning to a four-day class schedule, the new school year began Tuesday, Aug. 15, on all four campuses. Teachers are excited to see if months of planning for the new structure is the positive move for students and staff that they envision.

“I am hopeful students and teachers will buy into the work hard, play hard approach,” said Amber Harness, an eighth-grade English teacher at Green Forest Middle School who is in her fifth year with the district. “When we’re at school, we give it our all, and when we’re home, we are free to enjoy ourselves without the pressure of school.”

The Green Forest school board voted 5-1 in March to go to the four-day school week. The idea was voted down in 2022 but received the board’s approval this time, thanks in part to the resounding support of staff, according to Superintendent Matt Summers.

“Last year our board voted not to go to the four-day week,” Summers said in March. “I think it was too much, too soon, and they really needed to look at it further and deeper and have more discussions.”

Summers said the district polled all employees with 85.9 percent (159) being in favor of the new schedule, which includes an extended-day schedule Tuesday through Friday. Twenty-six employees (14.1 percent) were against the idea, Summers said, adding at the time that the majority of students and parents polled were also in favor of the four-day week.

“This year, with our student and staff polling being even higher, this was something the board was willing to look at again,” Summers said. “This is one of those topics that is very difficult to be on the fence about. You’re either adamantly for or adamantly against.”

DOORS OPEN AT 7:30

Doors at each of the four campuses will open at 7:30 a.m. each school day, Summers said. Classes in the elementary school and intermediate school will begin at 7:40 a.m. and will be dismissed each day at 4:20 p.m. At the middle school and high school, instruction will begin at 7:45 a.m. and conclude at 4:25 p.m., the superintendent said.

In addition to students having access to breakfast and lunch, an afternoon snack also will be offered to students.

“When it was approved last year, there were both negative and positive emotions from people in the community that I understood,” said Vanessa Humbard, a senior English teacher at Green Forest High School who is in her sixth year with the district. “As a teacher, I personally liked the extra day. Teachers are quitting across the country and completely leaving the profession, and it is becoming an issue. We are also having trouble finding bus drivers, which will be a huge problem not just for our staff, but the whole community. This was a positive development for our school district’s employee management and retention.

“Having a three-day weekend will give the employees, including myself, that extra day to schedule appointments. It has been difficult to find substitute teachers when we need to take time off for the past few years now.”

The change benefits students in many ways, Humbard said.

“As a teacher, I am hopeful that the fourday week will provide students that extra day on Monday to finish work and projects that they weren’t able to complete over the weekend,” she said. “I also hope that an extra day of rest will boost attendance and increase morale. I understand that there will still be adverse outcomes that come with this decision, such as students getting home later, and missing more class periods due to sports or other activities. However, I do believe the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages.”

DEJA VU

Leksi Massey, a third-grade teacher at Green Forest Elementary, said she already got to experience a four-day week during one of her stops as an intern in college.

“When I first heard that we were considering the idea of a fourday week, I was really excited,” said Massey, who is in her third year with the district. “One of my internship placements in college was at a school where a fourday week had just been adopted. Throughout my internship I learned that the four-day week had an impressive positive impact on staff morale, so I was excited to see what it could do for us as a district.

“I will love having that extra day off to spend time catching up on work that I don’t have time to do in the classroom. In the past, I would spend several hours outside of my contract hours working on grading, paperwork, updating documentation, planning for the next week and preparing materials. This left me with very little time for quality family time. With having Mondays off, I can use this day to catch up on work and be able to enjoy the weekend with my family without having to worry about falling behind on my work.”

Harness agreed, saying that with Mondays off teachers have the opportunity to either work from home or come to their classroom to get some things done, if needed.

“Teachers don’t really take days off during the school year,” Harness said. “We usually grade papers after school, on the weekend and teachers that I have talked to, they are so excited because they can finally get the doctor’s appointments they need and it won’t impact the classroom. They won’t have to miss class or get a substitute.

“A four-day work week really helps the work-life balance for teachers and students. We’re going to work really hard while we’re here and then when we all go home, we’re home. Students shouldn’t be having piles of homework because the day is so long. … We want the kids to work really hard at school and be able to enjoy that personal time. And we want that for our teachers as well. It’s more of a balance and that’s what we’re hoping for.”

Summers said Monday morning that he and his staff are excited to get the year started.

“It’s always an exciting time at the beginning of school,” he said. “If you’re not excited about it then you’re probably in the wrong profession. The kids are excited and had a great week of professional development so they’re ready. It’ll be a little chaotic, as it always is, that first day and most likely the first week. But, the excitement is there and we’re going to have a great school year.”

RECRUITING TOOL

The new schedule has already made positions at Green Forest more attractive, the teachers said.

“I have already effectively seen the impact the four-day work week has had on attracting new employees,” Humbard said. “For example, this year we had to hire a whole new English department in the high school, which traditionally has been a difficult position to hire, but we had no problem finding applicants for this year.”

Harness said she drives 40 to 45 minutes each way to school from her home in Harrison. In fact, most of the teachers in the district live outside of the immediate area, she said, making the schedule change helpful in eliminating one day of a commute.

“Most of the eighthgrade team are from Harrison and I think the majority of the middle school is from outside of Green Forest, so this gives us one less day we have to drive, unless you’re a coach because I know they are still doing some things on Mondays,” Harness said. “This cuts down on gas, cuts down on time driving.”

With only four days of instruction in a week, each day will now count as 1.25 days for students. That’s something parents need to remember when it comes to absences, Harness said.

“Our days are counting as 1.25 days for teachers and students so students can more quickly hit that risk factor for being absent and being reported as missing too much school,” she said. “If you miss four days of school you’ve really missed five days because we’re 1.25 days. … I worry that parents won’t realize that if they let their kids miss too much or they don’t give them a note or something, that it’ll add up so much faster.”

INSTRUCTION TIME

Summers said he feels the number of hours of instruction each week is something that has confused some in the community.

“I think the biggest misnomer out in the public is that we’re not going to school as much, and that’s not true,” he said. “We’re actually going just a little bit more, but we’re doing it over the four instead of the five, so we’ll have to watch for fatigue. We’ve got to watch for tiredness with our students and figure out a way to keep them engaged all while learning.”

Overall, though, the teachers feel the new schedule will improve attendance numbers as it allows students to use Mondays for things such as doctor or dentist appointments.

“I think a four-day week will have a positive impact on students overall,” Massey said. “I know several students are involved in various extracurricular activities that can take up a lot of their personal time. This leaves minimal time for family time. I’m hoping with this day off, students are able to enjoy some more quality time with their families.

“I also think it’s going to improve student attendance. They should be able to make all appointments on Mondays which should minimize the amount of class time they miss. My hope is that better attendance will lead to better academic performance. I do not think this is going to be perfect and I’m sure we will find flaws as we go and we will have to work to come up with solutions for them … some students will struggle with the longer days as they adjust to the new schedule. It’s definitely going to be an adjustment for everyone.”

MONITORING PROGRESS Summers said the district will monitor student progress over the first nine weeks of the year and he is expecting positive results.

“I think, like anything else, once you get over the newness and change … it’s just the change is a tough thing for some people,” the superintendent said. “I think once we get into the flow here in a couple of weeks are going to say, ‘my high school kid can now mow my parents’ yard on Mondays,’ or if there’s a family situation this will give them one more day for being with family. I think it’s going to be a good thing and everybody’s going to really enjoy that.

“We’re monitoring our academic performance, our attendance and our discipline situations. We will be looking at that heavily and comparing that at the end of the first nine weeks. Our thoughts and beliefs are that attendance will go up, discipline situations will go down and our academics will go up.”

In the meantime, district staff is ready to handle any issue that may pop up with the new schedule, Summers said.

“Obviously, there’s going to be some changes and we don’t know what we don’t know until we’re faced with that,” he said. “But when those problems arise, we’ll put our heads together and make good decisions and move from there.”