Wallace schools not moving to 4-day week

SILVERTON — The Wallace School District will not be exploring a transition to a four-day school week for the 2024/25 school year, despite neighboring Kellogg School District’s decision to adopt the shortened week. 

WSD Superintendent Todd Howard said Wednesday that his district is going to take a wait-and-see approach before they make any alterations. 

Kellogg’s school board unanimously voted in favor of the change during its May board meeting.

In the wake of that decision, Howard began researching how such a change might affect the schools here.

“I have had multiple conversations with the school districts in Kootenai County to gather enrollment data/information based on Post Falls’ decision to move to a four-day week,” Howard said. “Lakeland, Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene all reported minimal differences in enrollment/open enrollment during that first year of the Post Falls schedule. Our situation could be completely different and only time will tell what impact it will have. If the KSD’s change causes specific issues in the WSD, then it may require that we look at the option of following along with their decisions.” 

When Kellogg announced its intentions to make the change, it cited reasons like staff retention, improving the mental health of the students and staff and using the reduced schedule to attract new teachers.  

Howard said he wasn't sure such a change would solve any of Wallace's problems.

“The primary reason that we have not and are currently not discussing the change is because we have not identified an issue that could be solved or bettered by making the switch,” he said. “I have listened to other districts talk about moving to a four-day to improve their finances, improve staff morale or attract potential applicants. From that list of reasons, we do struggle with attracting potential employees for both classified and certificated positions. With the specific characteristics of the WSD, I don’t know that attracting potential employees would be solved by switching to a four-day week.”

According to Howard, the Wallace School District will be paying close attention to Kellogg and if it decides to make any changes, they’ll likely be made in January or February to give the district ample time to create and execute a plan. 

The Mullan School District, just 6 miles east of Wallace, has also said it would not be moving to a four-day school week.