Crosby ISD will hold a meeting Wednesday to discuss possibly switching to a four-day week schedule.
Instant Street ViewA Houston-area school district could soon become the first in Harris County to shift to a four-day instructional schedule. Crosby ISD, located in northeast Harris County, might be joining over 40 districts across the state that have already made the move. Under the potential new schedule, teachers at Crosby ISD would work only 176 days a year instead of 187 and 8.5 hours a day instead of eight, per a report from David Taylor of the Houston Chronicle.
Officials are holding a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the potential update to the district's academic calendar, though district trustees are not expected to take an official vote on the matter until later this month.
Staffing issues reportedly spurred the discussion, as teacher vacancies in the district grew from a little more than a dozen last year to 40 this year due to teachers leaving the profession or seeking better pay elsewhere, Taylor reports. "Crosby ISD is always considering the best ways to provide exceptional teachers in the classrooms with our students," Brett Birkinbine, Crosby ISD's director of communications and community relations, told Taylor.
In addition, the district has sent out a survey to parents to gauge support for four-day school weeks, Taylor reports. Should the schedule change be adopted, Crosby ISD would join a handful of other nearby Texas school districts, including Liberty ISD, Devers ISD, and Hardin ISD that have already switched to four-day weeks. After conducting a poll among parents and staff last year, Jasper ISD opted for a four-day week schedule this school year in order to help lower costs and improve the wellbeing of educators.
Under guidance from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), districts are required to meet 75,600 minutes per school years. However, how those hours are met are under a school district's discretion. In 2016, Olfen ISD, which is located near San Angelo, became the first Texas school district to approve a four-day week schedule.
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