Survey shows support for shorter school week

Results of a survey sent to residents of Decatur ISD appear to show positive feelings toward moving away from a traditional five-day school week.

The survey was open to students, parents, employees and community members earlier this month, asking participants their opinions on the school’s current “hybrid calendar.” While this year’s calendar is not considered a four-day-week calendar, it does include a number of student holidays on Fridays. This year’s calendar also features longer class days than last year, which would also be a feature of a four-day school week.

The district said the goal of the survey was to “collect meaningful feedback from DISD stakeholders regarding our current calendar, and to allow us to continue the work to develop an optimal calendar for next year,” according to the survey.

DISD announced the results Monday, showing 1,615 responses. Of those respondents, 71 percent were parents, 20 percent were employees, nearly 11 percent were students and nearly 11 percent were community members. The survey allowed people to list every category that applied to them, such as a parent who might also be an employee, for example.

Just over 83 percent reported positive experiences for them or their family with the hybrid calendar, with 55.57 percent describing it as “very positive” and 27.53 percent as “somewhat positive.”

Another 9.45 percent said their experience was “somewhat negative” with 7.45 percent saying it was “very negative.”

Students listed the following as the top benefits of the four-day weeks: better school/life balance (77.4 percent), reduced stress and anxiety (64.38 percent), improved well-being (61.64 percent) and increased time for homework and study (59.59 percent). When asked about drawbacks, 48.44 percent said none, while 20.31 percent said increased homework load and just under 19 percent said boredom/nothing to do and nearly 19 percent said increased stress or anxiety.

A majority of parents in the survey listed better school/life balance (68.92 percent) and reduced stress and anxiety (51 percent) as their top positive observations with their child. Just under 50 percent listed improved well-being while 37.65 percent said better attendance.

Among parents, 63.25 percent said there were no drawbacks or challenges associated with a four-day week, while 18 percent listed childcare challenges, 14.24 percent listed boredom/nothing to do and 10.56 percent said less instructional time or time for homework or study.

Two-thirds of employees who participated in the survey said the four-day school week resulted in better work-school-life balance, with 60 percent listing improved personal well-being, 57.88 percent listing reduced stress or anxiety and 50 percent saying increased time for auxiliary responsibilities (i.e. planning, parent conferences).

When it came to challenges or drawbacks, 63.74 percent of surveyed employees said there were none, while 15.38 percent listed decreased instructional time, 12.45 percent said “other” and 10.62 percent said increased stress or anxiety.

The top positive traits of the four-day weeks among responding community members included more time for individuals and families to engage with my business/the community (dining, shopping, events. etc.) (56 percent), reduced stress or anxiety for individuals connected to the district (i.e. employees, friends, relatives) (51 percent) and increased work-school-life balance for individuals connected to the district (44 percent).

Just more than 7 in 10 community member respondents listed “none” for drawbacks or challenges they’ve observed with the change while 13 percent said increased stress or anxiety for employees and 12 percent said less work-school-life balance for those with connections to the district.

The full survey results can be found on the district’s website at decaturisd.us/o/disd/page/2024-hyrbid-feedback.

The district said information from the survey will be used to help “build an optimal, 4-day calendar for next school year.”

Although the results of the survey were not discussed at Monday’s school board meeting, the district issued the following statement when contacted for comment on the results and next steps:

“This feedback survey has been immensely helpful for the district. As we continue to prepare for next year’s 4-day school calendar, this survey has provided us with honest feedback on the current, hybrid calendar. That feedback is allowing us to improve our plans for next year and to hear directly from families, staff, and community members regarding any benefits or challenges. While the results of this survey were overwhelmingly positive, we understand that the reality is not equal for all families. From here, our job is to use this data to create meaningful improvements for our 4-day calendar next year.”

The school board voted in February to move from a traditional five-day school week calendar to a four-day week beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.