4-day/hybrid proposal to be revised

Board, staff, and administration members had a lot to say about the proposed four-day/hybrid schedule for the 2025/2026 Willow Springs School District, with an eventual decision to work together to draft a better proposal. 

 

Each of the school board members gave their thoughts on the proposal. The top reasons listed in favor of the four-day/hybrid schedule was teacher satisfaction, followed by attracting new teachers, and retaining current teachers. The concerns, on the other hand, were long. It is important to note that the board did not want to ignore the overwhelming approval for the plan by staff. “Teachers are not lazy people nor are they selfish, and they're not trying to get out of work,” said board member Matt Hobson. The positive benefits for teachers were also noted by Scott Foster and Brent Colley.

 

One of the largest issues was the proposed earlier start and release times, 7:45 am and 3:45 pm, respectively. This concern was vocally echoed by members Colley, Foster, Jeff Lovan, Debbie Bryan, and student member Tobie Brotherton. To meet the state minimum instructional hours from the 14 removed Mondays, the proposal would extend daily instructional time by roughly two hours. According to Bryan, this would cause her granddaughter to, “get on (the bus) just after 6 and get off just before 5.” Another major concern is that of kids in need -- those with “undesirable home situations or lack of resources,” according to Hobson. Other concerns included state legislation affecting public schools, ongoing lower enrollment, a vocal public against the change, and that, “the plan seems rushed” and needs more work.

 

Some of the changes that were suggested included moving the date the spring semester ends and remove spring break. Willow Springs has one of the earliest final days of school, May 9 for the current school year. One suggestion that seemed popular was moving this date to the third week of May.

 

Students and staff did not seem to want to see the block schedule to go away. Brotherton asked Superintendent Dr. Marty Spence about a second student survey. “52% in favor,” said Dr. Spence. “Even though we told them it wasn't a block versus traditional, a significant portion were against the hybrid because they didn't want to lose the block schedule.” She told the board about how tightly scheduled some classes are at the CTE Building right now with the block schedule, noting that her greenhouse class would hardly have any time for classwork if it switched to a period schedule. Bryan, who said she was 100% against block scheduling earlier in the night, asked Spence if he would consider periods and block. “I'll stand with the administration, and it's their decision,” said Spence. “Are they flexible with that? Perhaps. I don't see the high school going to traditional (period scheduling). Middle school is a different conversation.” 

 

The consensus was to revisit the topic in March after work could be done to address the many issues brought forth at the meeting. At the end of the meeting, the topic of the hybrid schedule was tabled until the March meeting with unanimous approval of the board.