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Possible 4-Day Student Contact Week FAQ's

There are several reasons why the district is considering the 4-Day Student Contact week. First, when the district was facing the possibility of closing some schools earlier this fall, the district got many emails from patrons who suggested the district look into the idea. Second, when the district asked in a survey if the district should investigate the 4-Day Student Contact week further, 74% of the respondents said "yes". Third, the 4-Day Student Contact week is very common in the state, with 97 school districts and charter schools already using a similar schedule. Finally, the district is facing challenges in hiring due to the national teacher shortage. The district is exploring the 4-Day Student Contact week to see if it would help with recruitment.  
The 4-Day Student Contact Week would be for the entire Nampa School District.
We are still exploring the options related to this, but if we went to a 4-Day Student Contact Week it is likely that the Early-Release Wednesday would not continue.

Having a whole specific meeting "day" is not something that can work on a 4-Day student week due to the responsibility fulfilling the IEP. Teams would need to coordinate to schedule meetings differently. The Consulting Teacher for each building can help them get organized if need be. Holding meetings virtually may be a helpful option in some cases. Additionally on the Fridays when staff are in the building, there could be an option for meetings as well.  Please reach out to your Consulting Teacher or to Dr. Cook to help plan and organize if we go to the 4-Day student week.

Teacher contract days would still be a negotiated item with the NEA. By moving to a 4DSCW, the academic day for teachers would likely be between 8.5 and 8.75 hours for the 4 days. It is also very likely we will have 20 teacher only days during the year. These will likely be divided between before school days, approximately 2 Fridays per month, and other needed days for teacher professional development and dedicated work time. Again, we will develop these with the NEA should the decision be made to move to a 4DSCW.

Teacher salaries will not be decreased from their current level if a move to 4DSCW is made. Moving to a 4DSCW is not a mitigation strategy to minimize financial impact, but an attempt to support the district to recruit and retain high quality staff.
Yes, there is a good chance that the school year calendar will be extended by roughly a week in order to meet instructional hour guidelines for a school year.
There might be some financial benefits, but they are not sufficient to warrant the change solely for monetary reasons. There are other factors to think about before moving to a 4-Day Student Contact week, such as giving teachers more time to plan, assess, and get professional development, making the district more attractive and effective in hiring and keeping staff, giving students more family time, and accommodating athletics and activities with more travel time without missing school.  

The district has examined several studies from national and local sources (see 4DSCW Research Page.) They show that a 4-Day Student Contact week does not have much impact, positive or negative, on academic outcomes. What matters more is ensuring students get enough quality hours of instruction. When students receive fewer hours of instruction over time, their academic achievement suffers. However, districts that keep medium to high hours of instruction maintain their achievement. In Idaho, there are not many studies on this topic, but the ones that exist show no academic loss. 

The Nampa School District has consulted with Middleton, Post Falls, Shelley, and Blackfoot School Districts. Those districts indicate the schedule has been a positive change for their districts, has improved their staff recruitment and retention especially for challenging positions, and has increased satisfaction among staff, students, and parents.  
The district faced several challenges that forced it to make some hard decisions, such as closing schools, changing boundaries, and altering our high school schedule. These challenges included a significant drop in funding from the state when it switched back to Average Daily Attendance from Enrollment, the expiration of Federal Covid Stimulus Dollars, old facilities with high deferred maintenance costs, and a large decline in enrollment over the last 10 years.  
No. The district is just considering the possibility at this point. There is no final decision or suggestion yet. The district gave a detailed presentation on the topic in our February board meeting (see link below). The next steps are to inform parents through a video, website, and survey. The data will be gathered and shared with the school board in our March board meeting.  
We will probably make a final decision in March or April based on our State Legislature. There is possible legislation that could significantly affect this decision. In our February board meeting, the board recommended we gather more feedback from our community and wait for the outcome of House Bill HB-521. 
This bill is under consideration in our State Legislature. It aims to give school districts money to help them take care of their school facilities. However, the bill has a part that may reduce these funds if districts do not offer the State's minimum amount of teaching hours and days. The Nampa School District has always met and gone beyond the minimum teaching hours, but the state has never had a minimum day rule. This would be new. The district is now waiting to see how this new rule may affect the district's finances.

Please use the form below to submit any potential questions on a possible 4-Day Student Contact Week