Board lays out restructuring ideas including four-day week, grade sharing and revenue options

The board reviewed a visual plan of possible restructuring and cost-saving ideas and discussed next steps for researching options.

Chair presented a list of proposals that included a four-day school week, block scheduling, rotating electives, grade-sharing with nearby schools, shared services, sports co-ops, closing underused classrooms and revenue-generating ideas such as renting classroom space. The Chair read the district's mission statement as context for the work and said the board should prioritize ideas that align with student success.

Discussion focused on feasibility and unintended consequences: members said a four-day week works in some districts but local staffing and child-care patterns could make it impractical. Members also flagged that some ideas require administrative research and that individual board members should pursue specific topics and report back. One member noted the workload on a small board and urged that staff provide more research and data rather than expecting board members to do extensive analysis themselves.

Why it matters: the district faces declining enrollment and fiscal pressure; the board said it needs an array of researched options if it plans to propose major changes or a future referendum.

Next steps: the board agreed to continue building the list, assign research tasks to interested trustees and ask staff to report findings at future meetings; the item will remain on the agenda for follow-up.