Acadia Parish School Board Approves Four-Day School Week Starting Next School Year

Students of Acadia Parish schools are rejoicing this morning as starting next school year they'll be going to classes only four days a week.

The Acadia Parish School held a special meeting on Thursday night to vote on the much-talked-about proposal and the votes were in favor of the change.

The topic has been discussed since late September with surveys being sent out to parents and faculty. Some 80% of the aforementioned were in favor of the shortened work week.

The school board also decided in last night's vote that Monday would be the day off for the students. However, that day will now become a non-instructional day for the teachers.

Why was this decision made?

Scott Richard, Superintendent of the Acadia Parish School Board, said one reason for this change is simply due to burnout.

"There are some national trends, along those lines, since coming out the pandemic where mental health, burnout, and other issues have risen," Richard told KATC-TV 3.

Richard also said it's just not the same world we lived in pre-pandemic.

"The goal is not to reduce instructional time," Richard said. "Obviously, no one wants to cut instructional time. The goal would be to compress a normal, five-day work week or instructional day into four extended days."

What do parents think?

It seems that many parents are indeed in agreement with this decision.

Sheree Lejeune, whose daughter already attends school four days a week, is in total support of the change.

"I find that it's less stress on my kid. She handles the four-day week very well and it gives them that extra day if they need more one-on-one," Lejeune told KLFY TV-10.

What do educators think?

While many teachers were in favor of the four-day instructional week, one principal was not happy with the non-instructional day.

Cheri Baggett, Principal of Church Point Middle School, said she was in favor of Fridays and not Mondays being the day to dedicate to a non-instructional day.

"I respect the board members, I respect them, but I think that they didn't listen to anyone except maybe their own thoughts," Baggett said.

Baggett didn't think that the school board members took their constituents into consideration.

"We're going to get a three-and-a-half day education, especially during football and track season, as a result," Baggett said.

Below is the live-stream YouTube video from last night's special meeting by the Acadia Parish School Board.