Kellogg School District to stay on 4-day schedule next year

KELLOGG — The school district is extending its pilot four-day school week into next school year, Superintendent Lance Pearson said.

In May 2024, the Kellogg School Board unanimously adopted the shortened schedule for the 2024/25 school year, but on an exploratory basis. In March, another unanimous decision was made to extend the pilot schedule for another year.  

Chair Alexa Griffin said the board wants to collect as much input as it can before making the four-day schedule a permanent fixture. 

“We didn’t feel like one year was enough for a permanent change,” Griffin said. “We recognize the importance of improving where we can and continuing to take feedback from our staff, students and families.”  

The district did enjoy a series of major successes during the first semester of the school year, including better attendance for students and staff, no decline in academic performance and a positive financial impact.  

In a year-over-year comparison, KSD student attendance increased 4.4% during the first semester, finishing at 92.7%. During the same time frame, staff attendance improved 14.2%.  

During their initial information gathering process, the district received largely positive responses from students, staff and families about changing to a shorter week. 

In January, a similar-sized group was surveyed. It found that 85% of families, 83.8% of students and 85% of staff responded positively to keeping the four-day schedule. Four percent of families, 8.1% of students and 9.5% of staff had a neutral opinion about keeping the schedule.  

Chief concerns from the negative responses were things like Friday child care, inconveniences from Friday extracurricular activities and the risk of condensed lesson plans. These were largely the same concerns presented to the board during the initial decision last year.  

According to Griffin, the board will be looking into additional support services for families needing child care on Fridays, enhancing and streamlining professional development for staff, establish a comprehensive monitoring system for performance metrics and develop an improved system of targeted interventions for students who are struggling.  

Griffin said the board would continue with surveys so the district stays in step with the wishes of its patrons. 

The Kellogg School District’s 2025/26 calendar is available at www.kelloggschools.org.