The Wright City R-II School District held its second town hall meeting Tuesday night and the forum generated plenty of heated debate. District officials informed parents of the possibility that if budget cuts continue, the district may look into a four-day school week. Superintendent Dr. Chris Gaines addressed a full room of approximately 70 parents in the middle school cafeteria. “I’m not pushing for it or saying that we should do it, but I am intrigued by it,” he said. Some parents felt the concept of a condensed week was a bad idea and voiced their opinions during the open discussion portion of the meeting. “By shortening our week, how are we going to be giving our children more information?” said Susan Brouk, who has two children in the district. “This isn’t about my children,” she added. “This is about the district. For the kids who struggle, what’s going to happen when they lose that extra instruction?” Brouk said she viewed a four-day school week as a way the district could evade expenses. “Basically, the district is giving the extra instruction to the parents that we’ll have to pay for and taking it out of the school community.” Gaines acknowledged Brouk’s concern, but said the four-day school week had more layers that he wanted to explore. “If we go to a four-day school week, we’re pushing the costs off on parents to send their kids to a daycare,” he said. “For me? I can’t get there. Maybe someday, but I think we need more days, not less. Budget issues may force us to go to a four-day school week, though. “It looks like less, but you move the times around, so school time as a whole remains the same,” Gaines added. He said the district is analyzing the Lathrop R-II School District’s calendar, as it operates on a four-day school week. “Last year, we talked about this and threw up some barriers to it,” Gaines said. “We heard about Lathrop’s experiences and they have a few things going for them. There are a lot of farmers in their community and the Claycomo Ford Plant operates four days a week, so the community structure lent itself to doing that. “Every community is unique and the community will adapt,” he added. Gaines said the impact of a four-day school week is generally considered in four areas: financial savings, student achievement, other student and teacher outcomes and stakeholder satisfaction. The greatest concern, he said, was with student learning and achievement and that research concludes a condensed schedule may have a positive impact — and in most cases — has no negative impact. Gaines said research supported increased attendance in all three grade levels with a four-day school week. Data shows there are 17 percent fewer certified staff absences and 29 percent fewer classified staff absences as well, he noted. He also said the fifth day could be used for professional development, tutoring, field trips or makeup days lost due to inclement weather. Gaines said he wanted to alleviate any concerns parents had over the topic. “There are three things that I can say,” he said. “The disclaimer I gave was that we’re not for it, but intrigued. There are a lot of academic indicators that our scores are going up. And come to the December town hall meeting. We’re going to be talking all about student achievement.” Gaines said the next step is to talk to staff members within the next week and address the topic with the district’s calendar committee before its December meeting. “The calendar committee will use some of this information as we build a calendar for next year, but will it be a four-day school week calendar? As of today, I think definitely not,” Gaines said.