Alamosa schools will look at four-day school week

THE Alamosa School District will be studying a four-day school week for as early as the 2023-24 academic year following a survey conducted by the Alamosa Education Association that showed support for the move. You can find the survey results here.

In the state of Colorado, large school districts are staying with the traditional five-day school week, while smaller school districts like the ones in the San Luis Valley and other rural markets in Colorado have shifted to a four-day school week, according to data from the Colorado Department of Education.

Alamosa is the only school district in the San Luis Valley that is on a five-day school week, with Alamosa releasing students following a half day on Fridays. The school district has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Alamosa Education Association “continuing the conversation on the topic of a four-day school week,” according to a statement released Tuesday. Read the memo here.

The school district and Alamosa Education Association will form a committee in June to “collaborate on the topic of a four-day school week and the two parties agree to schedule monthly meetings during the 2022-2023 academic school year,” according to the school district.

Of the 178 school districts in Colorado, 114 are on a 4-day school week, according to the data. A spokesman for the state Education Department said the school districts still in session five days a week generally are the larger school districts in the state.

Here is the state’s most recent data on four-day school weeks in Colorado.