Broken Arrow School Board President Steve Allen told KRMG he’s not currently in favor of a proposed four-day school week.

“I cannot vote for it going into next year.” Allen said. “I think we have more time that we have to invest in this and have a plan.”

Allen said the two toughest challenges, in his view, are childcare and child nutrition.

“We have single-parent households, we have working parent households that this would greatly impact in a negative way.” Allen said. “We have a large amount of students in our district that depend on the school district to get some meals each day.”

Some have raised concerns about the impact a 4-day week would have on academics, but that’s something Allen said there is no clear answer on yet.

“You can find a study that says it could negatively impact education... you can find a study that says it has no bearing on the outcomes of education positively or negatively.” Allen said.

He said what seems to be consistent is that instruction time is critical for positive outcomes and noted that he would not want to do anything that negatively impacts the education of Broken Arrow kids.

Another concern Mr. Allen shared was the timing of it all. He said if a 4-day week were to be approved in February 2025, that would leave only a few months to implement the change.

“We don’t have answers to the challenges or any type of proposed solutions..” Allen added. “I can’t support that right now.”

Despite his current opposition to the 4-day week, Allen said districts have to find a way to attract and retain teachers.

“There’s a true teacher shortage that we need to address... and get serious about addressing it.” Allen said.

As for move forward on the 4-day week proposal, “I think we need to listen to the feedback from our community and the school district and community need to work together to see what the best fit for Broken Arrow is,” Allen said.

Listen to Steve Allen’s full interview with KRMG here

Broken Arrow Public Schools released three proposed calendars for the 2025-2026 school year. The district is asking members of the community to review the calendars and take a survey.

Click here to see the calendars and take the survey