Bigfork seeks community input on four-day school week

In an effort to gauge interest in a four-day school week, Bigfork School District has released an online survey open to parents, community members and staff.  

“We’ll be able to extrapolate the information and say, ‘What do the elementary parents think? What does the elementary staff think?’” superintendent Tom Stack explained during an October School Board meeting.    

School staff initially introduced the idea of a four-day week as a possibility, along with other scheduling ideas such as four-day only in the spring or a block schedule at the high school. 

The questionnaire will collect community opinion regarding academic and social-emotional development of students should a four-day school week be implemented. It also includes questions on potential effects to absences, quality of instruction, morale, recruiting and retaining staff, family time and student mental health. Access to programs such as food service, childcare and extracurriculars are also considered. 

 The survey is available at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfRHWhQs5XjxUTDWyz-fiAex7jTAQSEieHYIc299ARQYqWqig/viewform?usp=sf_link. Responses are due by Monday, Nov. 11. The next School Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 5 p.m.