Why this Houston-area school district is thinking about switching to 4-day weeks

CROSBY, Texas (KTRK) -- Could the school week get shorter in Crosby ISD? The district plans to go over that very idea with parents during a meeting Wednesday night.

According to our partners at the Houston Chronicle who spoke to the district, it comes down to staffing.

The Chronicle reports that Crosby ISD has about 40 teacher vacancies to start the year and a four-day school week may be the best way to fix that problem.

The district sent out a survey to parents to get an idea of how much support a four-day school week has in the community.

The Texas Education Agency, or TEA, requires districts to meet 75,600 minutes per school year, but how districts get there is considered a local decision.

If Crosby goes to four days a week, teachers would work eight and a half hours a day, four days a week.

The number of days they work would fall from 187 to 176.

A few districts in Liberty County are now on four days or will be soon, but Crosby ISD would be the first in Harris County to make the switch.

In 2019, for example, Devers ISD moved to a four-day school week. In their case, the district added 35 minutes to every day.

Devers ISD said it made the switch to improve attendance and attract more transfer students. Attendance was 96.5%, district officials said, but Friday attendance was "awful."

Athens ISD also began implementing a four-day week in 2019.

In August 2022, Mineral Wells ISD, west of Dallas, switched to a shorter week after multiple teachers in this district left, opting to teach at neighboring schools where districts offered a four-day week.

The meeting for parents with the district is set for Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

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