AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – As we previously reported there are many schools that have adopted either a full 4-day school week or a modified school week.

Channing ISD will be operating on a four-day school week for the second year. Principal of Channing ISD Karlton Graves said that since the school has adopted the four-day school week he has many benefits for everyone.

“I don’t think there’s a single person that doesn’t benefit in some way from it. Parents, it’s one less day they have to get because we arrived in the middle of the nowhere more or less. So, we rely on transfers from other schools. And that’s an extra day those parents don’t have to get their kids up at six o’clock in the morning and on the bus,” said Karlton.

Graves added that operating on a shorter week also allows teachers to have a day off where they can reflect on the week and get ready for the next.

“So, we have had to adjust and modify when and how long our length of curriculum is for that because of, you know, losing that day. So, we have to change how many hours per day they are in those classrooms and how many hours they’re doing other things as well. So, our school days a little bit longer with that,” said Graves.

Graves added that currently, Channing ISD does not provide childcare for families on Fridays, but they are looking at the logistics of it possibly being added in the future.

Follett ISD will be adopting a modified school calendar for the second year. According to Superintendent Megan Roberston, the district has been able to hire quality teachers which leads to a better experience for the students.

“So, this gave us an opportunity to really recruit some teaching staff compared to the areas in our surrounding area. So, we may be might not be able to provide the increase in our salaries, however, we’re able to get this benefit to help prepare students,” said Roberston. “Teachers are the number one indicator of success in a child’s educational career. So, the quality of the teacher and instruction have the greatest impact on our students.”

Roberston added that the district does have longer school days throughout the year.

“We’re actually increasing the minimum minutes of instruction over the school year. So, when we broke down the numbers, we’re at 77,700 minutes for our school year of instruction. Where when you’re doing a traditional, it’s 76,680,” said Roberston. “So, we’re actually increasing our instructional minutes and we’re not losing that many days. So overall, we’re seeing a great impact on this and our teachers, our families, and the students seem to really enjoy that modified calendar.”

According to Roberston before adopting the modified the district asked families how this schedule will affect their childcare and if they would like to adopt it.

“So, 74% of our community were in favor of piloting the modified calendar, and then about 10% of the community said it might be an issue with childcare. However, this really hasn’t seemed to be a huge issue. It’s allowed our young adults in the school to step forward and help serve our youth,” said Roberston.

Silverton ISD is starting its third year of a four-day school week.

“It has worked very well for us. The community has received it very well, because the teachers really like it. Our students like it, it has been very beneficial in that. It seems like it’s more people are more relaxed in the know when it comes to when it comes to Wednesday. We’ve just got one more day and we can make it,” said Silverton ISD Superintendent Michelle Francis.

According to Francis even though the district is operating on shorter school week students are getting more instructional minutes when compared to years with a typical school week.

“It has helped in hiring because it’s a good draw, teachers really like it. I know one concern has been about that has been voiced was childcare. It has not been a problem here because we don’t have, we don’t have a daycare. So, most of the childcare is done by local residents by family members,” said Francis.