Argonia moves to four day school week, creating challenges for parents

ARGONIA, Kan. (KSNW) — As of Tuesday, there are no classes on Mondays for Argonia Public Schools. Many kids are happy about an extra day off, but some parents now need to find child care. The district’s superintendent believes they have taken steps to help with that issue. 

“One thing we did do, is we have day care available on Mondays for parents that have to work five days a week,” said Argonia Superintendent Rustin Clark. 

The cost of the daycare is $25 for the day, and they will provide a lunch for the children who are attending. 

They will make back the time of instruction by now starting the school day 10 minutes earlier, at 7:50 a.m., and the day will end at 3:45 p.m., adding an additional 15 minutes to the end of the day.

The district has also added two school days at the beginning of the year and a four-day week at the end of the year to make back some of the lost time. 

The belief is that the four-day schedule will be more attractive and draw teachers to fill open positions in the future. In a smaller community like Argonia, class sizes are smaller, which allows for more one-on-one attention from teachers. This makes catching up with instruction levels in a former five-day week easier. 

Courtesy: Argonia Public Schools

Parent Ryan Hublick II believes the change will be beneficial in allowing students to have more time to be kids. 

“I think it’s better for the kids, absolutely. They have more time to be kids. I mean, the school day is a little longer, but personally, if you’re going to sacrifice anything, it should be a little more of the day to learn a little bit more, so they can have more time to be kids,” said Hublick. 

For more information about Argonia USD 359, visit their website.