RUSK, Texas — With the ongoing teacher shortage, Rusk ISD Superintendent Grey Burton said the goal of implementing a four-day school week is to hopefully attract and keep teachers within the school district.
He said they want to give teachers a better work-life balance and more time to prepare for their classes.
Burton said their doors will be open on those Fridays for students who aren’t able to be at home.
"We realize going into this there are parents that work and don't have arrangements, and we don't want to put an extra burden on them. It's going to be more of a resource time and for them to come in -- maybe to expand on some of the things that we're talking about in class," Burton said.
For those students, the district will provide transportation and meals for the weekend. Burton said the teachers who decide to work on Fridays will get additional pay.
But he said they plan on working with community partners to get people from different programs, like student teachers and future educators from local universities to help on those days.
"It just will depend on the number of students that we're talking about," Burton said.
He also believes the student attendance rate will increase.
Starting next year, Rusk ISD will start school a week earlier and end a week later. They’re adding 40 minutes to the school day and holidays will stay the same.
Burton said the teachers took two surveys before coming to the final decision of the four-day week calendar.
"The staff, teachers and everyone they're highly in favor of it. Our teachers will be more excited about work, they won't be as burned out," Burton said.
However, he said the easy part was getting the new calendar.
"Now we've got to put the work in and make sure that we're going to do the best thing we can for all of our students here at Rusk ISD, and take everybody parents, staff and everyone's situation into thought," Burton said.
Many other school districts in East Texas like Athens and Alto have also implemented a four-day school week.