JASPER, Texas — Jasper Independent School District four-day school week is coming to an end.
Jasper ISD has voted in favor of a traditional five-day week. It will start in the 2024-2025 school year, according to their agenda.
In March of 2022, the school district approved a new academic calendar that included the 4-day school week.
The school district took a poll back in 2022 to find out if teachers were in favor of a 4-day school week. The majority of teachers supported the 4-day week which prompted Jasper ISD Superintendent John Seybold to move forward with the decision.
“Each community is going to have to do what's right for them and each school district's going to weigh that this probably isn't right for everybody,” Seybold said.
Superintendent Seybold said in 2022 that the switch to a 4-day week was out of concern for the mental health and needs of teachers and students.
“Teacher's mental health as well as our student's... So trying to balance those needs, and the Fridays off were a concern for us, for our kids. But as a school system the best thing we can do is put excellent, excellent educators in front of our kids,” Seybold said.
The announcement of this change is already causing a stir among parents, leaving them wondering why the administration is changing the weekly schedule again.
"Probably about 90% of the parents I've seen or read on Facebook or other social media, they're not happy about it," said Jasper parent Kandi Davis.
She has two children enrolled in Jasper ISD. Davis says going back to a 5-day school week will force families to readjust to an already hectic schedule.
"What I hear, why they're wanting to switch back, is for more instruction in the classroom," she told 12News.
Davis says the district provided a survey almost two months ago asking for parents' opinion on 4-day weeks. Now, she's curious about the results.
"A lot of the teachers aren't happy. That's why I want to see the survey numbers and see if the school board even really listened to what we asked," Davis said.
Davis is left wondering what has changed to cause the district to go back to 5-day weeks.
"They expect so much out of them. They need that break. Their brains need that break. Teachers need that break," said Davis.
Davis' daughter, Kimber Smith, is heavily involved in softball and 4-H. She says, she'll miss the old schedule.
"I liked it because it gave me time to look at everything we learned in the past week, and look at the things I didn't get," Smith said.
Both Smith and her mom think the district should reconsider its decision.
"I like the 4-day. I would rather have the 4-day," Davis said.
Since the changes were voted on, 12News has reached out for comment from Jasper ISD. So far, the district has not responded to our requests.
Jasper ISD was not the first school in our region to implement a 4-day school week.
Devers ISD in Liberty County voted 'yes' to a four-day school week in 2019.
The Texas Education Agency paved the way for changes like this several years ago. When it switched from requiring 180 instructional days to roughly 76,000 minutes per year, that gave districts the freedom to decide which days students attend school.
GET NEWS & WEATHER ALERTS | Download the 12News App to your mobile device
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.