4-Day Instructional Week:
FAQs
What day will we be out?
Students will attend four days a week throughout the year with Friday being the off day.
Friday was chosen after looking at attendance data, TJC dual credit schedules and feedback from coaches and extracurricular sponsors.
Teachers and staff will work one to two Fridays a month.
AGISD employees will have at least two-three Fridays off each month to spend with family, schedule appointments, rest, and take care of personal business.
Will this lower the pay of teachers or other staff?
Absolutely not! This change will not lower the pay of any AGISD employee. We want this change to help recruit and retain staff. The best way to accomplish this is to reduce the number of days worked and not reduce pay.
Will this make the school year longer?
The school year will start approximately a week earlier and will end on May 30th.
Teachers will return on Aug. 2.
Students will start on Aug. 8.
Will school days be longer?
Yes, we will add 42 minutes to the daily schedule. The bell schedule will be from 7:40 AM to 4:07 PM.
Recess times would be extended for grades Pre-K - 5 to break up the day.
Will we lose instructional time?
The total number of instructional days for students is 149 days, with 517 minutes of instructional time each day including tutorials from 7:30-7:45 AM each day. This is a total of 77,033 minutes for the year, which more than meets the state's requirement of 75,600 minutes of instructional time.
Will a 4-day school week shorten holiday breaks during the year?
No! Holiday breaks will not be shortened.
Thanksgiving Break will still be a week.
Christmas Break will be the same length.
Spring Break will still be a week.
We will, however, have a few less Monday holidays compared to the 22-23 calendar.
We will no longer have early release days.
How will this affect extracurricular activities on Fridays?
We will play games and participate in other competitions that are on Fridays just as we always have.
The upside to this is that a junior high/JV student who travels to an away game on Thursday to play and gets home very late will not have to wake up early to attend school on Friday morning.
In addition, coaches who travel on these same trips will not have to be at work early on Friday either. Coaches and other staff will have to work on Friday game days.
If transportation is an issue these days, we will develop plans with each program (athletics, band, cheer, ag, etc.) to get students to these activities.
Our coaches plan for our athletes to have rest and a break on Fridays, like other students, besides still competing on Friday night when they are in season. Coaches are not planning to bring athletes in early on Fridays.
What will happen to pep rallies?
Like other 4-day school districts, we will continue to have pep rallies. With Fridays off and getting in our instruction time Monday-Thursday, we will have more opportunities to take community-wide pep rallies on Fridays throughout the year and athletic seasons.
How will the four-day instructional week impact student athletes?
Again, our coaches plan for our athletes to have rest and a break on Fridays, like other students, besides still competing on Friday night when they are in season.
Currently, our team practices do not extend beyond 6:00 PM. Practices are not anticipated to extend past 6:00 PM next year either. Our coaches will continue to utilize time in the school day, including the extended time during class, to practice and condition so there will be no significant changes to practice times.
Junior High athletes will not be required to come to practice on Fridays.
How will the district know if this is successful?
We are committed to a 3 year pilot. We will look at the following data throughout the next 3 years to determine if it is successful or not:
Student academic success (STAAR Tests, reading levels, math skills levels, completing dual credit college hours before graduation, earning an industry-based certification before graduation, ASVAB scores, ACT and SAT scores, and graduation rates).
Student enrollment numbers.
Student attendance rates.
Employee attendance rates.
Percentage of students participating in extracurricular activities.
Employee retention rate.
Numbers of certified and highly qualified applicants for each open position.
Parent climate surveys.
Student climate surveys.
Employee climate surveys.
Will meals or childcare be provided on Fridays?
We are not planning to have our cafeteria open on Fridays. However, our counselors and food service staff are planning to work with students and families to make sure students’ meal needs are met on Fridays.
After considering parent survey results, we do not plan to offer childcare at this time. We hope that approving the calendar in January will give parents time to make any needed arrangements to adjust to the new schedule before the beginning of the school year.
Is the four-day instructional week being introduced for financial reasons?
No. The four-day instructional week is considered to be a budget neutral decision.
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