Pasco school official fields questions on four-day week

A public forum on a possible four-day school week in Pasco County drew a sparse but lively crowd to Pasco Middle School, where school board member Steve Luikart fielded questions and comments.

Most of the roughly 50 people who attended the forum this evening expressed concerns or outright opposition to the idea, though some said they were keeping an open mind about a four-day week as money-saving option for the district.

Keith Poot, whose grandson attends Centennial Middle School, said the idea isn't good for students. He said his grandson has trouble sitting still for the school day as it is now, and a longer day would just be worse.

State law dictates how much time students must spend in school, so any class time lost from the dropped day would have to be added to the remaining four days. Any money savings is expected to come from transportation and utilities.

School board member Steve Luikart, who is heading up a task force researching the idea, said the community should wait until the task force finishes its report, which is to be presented to the school board March 20.

Poot said he's not interested.

"I don't want to read the final report," he said. "I don't want this program."

Pauli Franklin, a parent from Zephyrhills, was more willing to consider the possibility. She also said too many people seemed worried about a four-day week's impact on such areas as child care and juvenile delinquency, which she sees as more of a parental responsibility than a school one.

"People just need to have an open mind and they need to take responsibility for their own children like I do for mine," Franklin said.

As he took comments, Luikart stressed that no decision has been made.

"When I talk to you about the possibility of a four-day school week, that is all it is, an option," he said.

Carlos L. Saenz, whose wife teaches at Oakstead Elementary and whose daughter is a student there, said the school board should explore other areas to save money, such as privatizing some services.

The task force began researching the four-day school week in September after Luikart suggested the idea as a potential cost-saving measure during last year's school budget discussions.

At the time, the board was trying to cut spending to deal with a $54 million revenue shortfall for 2011-12. District officials are already projecting that the school district could have a shortfall of about $29 million for 2012-13.

The task force — which includes parents, teachers, principals, bus drivers, custodians and district-level supervisors — is charged solely with gathering data and presenting the results to the school board.

The group will not make a recommendation to the board when it presents its findings March 20.

The Thursday night public forum was the first of three the task force will hold. The others are Wednesday at Rushe Middle School in Land O' Lakes and Thursday at River Ridge High School's performing arts center in New Port Richey.

Both will start at 6:30 p.m.

Pasco isn't the only Florida school district that has been considering a switch to four days. The Marion County School Board voted in June to implement a four-day week in 2012-13, but now is reconsidering and may abandon the plan, according to reports in the Ocala Star-Banner.