Palo Verde High Magnet School will move to a four-day school week as part of a pilot program, the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board voted Tuesday night.
The board voted 5-0 to give students Fridays off — making it the first traditional public school in the Tucson area to do so — beginning next school year.
Over three hours into the Tuesday meeting, the vote went down. Amendments and amendments to amendments created confusion and some of the Titans’ supporters, including students, family and staff departed hours earlier.
Palo Verde Principal Eric Brock addressed the board and Chief Financial Officer Ricky Hernández broke down the financial picture: This program will not save money. It could boost attendance and enrollment, leading to more state dollars, but in the meantime, two additional people are needed to manage the Palo Verde piece of TUSD’s finances: one in payroll and another in human resources.
As he laid out the plan, Hernández noted payroll for the entire district would roll back by a day and Palo Verde staff will require a separate payroll because they will rotate their time on Fridays.
“We need an additional position in each department, finance and HR, to keep track of Palo Verde,” he said. “We have to make sure we have somebody dedicated when something hits the fan.”
In the end, the potential upside won out.
“I’m excited about an opportunity to bring something new to attract kids to hopefully improve scores through a little bit of enrichment on Fridays,” Brock told Arizona Luminaria after the vote. “The initial thought was to grow enrollment, but this idea is a unique opportunity to support our students and in the end, if we’re preparing our kids more, what more would you want as a mom or dad?”
Brock, who graduated from Palo Verde in the 1990s, and has been principal there for 13 years, brought the idea to his staff in November. The board heard about it formally earlier this month.
At Tuesday’s meeting the proposal’s financial picture became clear: Substantive savings from Friday closures are not expected, Hernández says.
The pilot program does not have an official time limit and will cost more than $6.2 million, TUSD’s financial analysis says. That’s Palo Verde’s $6.11 million budget plus additional staffing needs.
The four-day school week includes a longer school day with seven, 60-minute classes from 8:10 a.m. to 4:10 p.m. Fridays are free for students and abbreviated for staff, which will rotate to support students. The fifth day of the week is one for credit recovery, academic help, internships and family flexibility, staff told the board.
Among TUSD’s 10 largest high schools, Palo Verde has seen the most growth — at 11% — over the last four years, according to Arizona Department of Education data. It has almost 700 students.
The hope is a four-day week will attract more students where growth is needed in a district which has lost around 13,000 students in the last 11 years and now has about 35,000 in 88 schools, Arizona Department of Education data says.
And more students means more state funding: If Palo Verde’s attendance improves just 10% next fiscal year, that’s $143,000 in additional state aid, the data says.
Read the whiteboard
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