Goodsprings, Sandy Valley want to try four-day school week

Students at schools in Goodsprings and Sandy Valley want to try out a four-day school week next fall.

The Clark County School Board gave its unanimous blessing to the plan Thursday and will forward the students' request to the Nevada Department of Education.

The shorter week has broad support in the rural communities. It would save the schools a little money but also increase time in class and allow the schools to offer students more courses and services, such as labs and tutoring.

The plan would affect 292 students at Goodsprings Elementary School and Sandy Valley Elementary and Junior/Senior High schools, an hour south of Las Vegas.

Deputy Superintendent Pedro Martinez said he and Superintendent Dwight Jones were "skeptical" until they learned that seven Nevada districts have rural schools on four-day schedules. Three districts have all their schools on that schedule and have found that student performance hasn't suffered, which was a concern raised at the School Board meeting.

Despite teaching one less day, there would be a half hour more class time each week in Goodsprings and Sandy Valley.

The proposed school day would run from 7:55 a.m. to 3:28 p.m., with seven periods of 58 minutes each. The current schedule runs from 7 a.m. to 1:16 p.m. with six periods of 53 minutes.

Proposed benefits of an extra period include high school students being able to obtain needed credits to graduate and more course offerings. Also, sports teams could travel farther on Fridays because they wouldn't be missing classes. And Fridays would be used to offer labs for accelerated students, credit retrieval for those who failed courses and tutoring.

Board member Carolyn Edwards, who oversees these schools, said community meetings have yielded only support for the change. Many students make long commutes to schools, she said. Plus, some high school students work on the weekends to help support the family and could work a third day.

Principal Jerry Cornell said the plan has the support of most of the 61 staffers, except for three bus drivers who were concerned about losing hours.

District staff assured the School Board on Thursday that no staffer would lose income.

These rural schools already outperform their urban counterparts. While two-thirds of the 363 schools in Clark County failed No Child Left Behind last year, these schools have consistently passed the federal system. Goodsprings has passed No Child Left Behind eight years in a row. Sand Valley middle and high schools passed three years in a row.

But with fewer students come advantages.

Goodsprings has one computer per student and a ratio of nine students per teacher, according to the state Department of Education's 2010-11 report card for the school. The district average is 22 elementary school students per teacher.

Goodsprings received $9,658 of instructional funding per student compared with the district average of $5,024. Sandy Valley's elementary school received $12,750, and its junior/senior high school received $9,344.

Before making the change permanent, the School Board recommended a two-year pilot. After that, it would assess its success and whether to support continuing a four-day week.

Edwards said the schedule could then be used by other rural Clark County schools "if it works."

Contact Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.