Broken Arrow Public Schools Weighs 4-Day School Week Amid Parent Debate

Broken Arrow Public Schools is considering a shift to a four-day school week, sparking mixed reactions from parents as the district seeks solutions to address staffing shortages and improve student support.

Briana and Dustin Garrison have three kids that go to Broken Arrow Public Schools.

Brianna says she loves the idea of getting more family time, but Dustin says a four-day school week isn't realistic. 

“As someone who came from a five-day school week we all had days we wished we could have stayed home," Briana said.

When she heard about Broken Arrow Public Schools looking into taking a day off the school week, she thought a great idea because in her case, she's lucky. 

“Personally I am all for a four-day school week but that’s coming from a stay-at-home mother who is able to stay at home and be with my kids,” said Garrison.

Her husband, Dustin, works five days a week. He has a different opinion. 

“School prepped me for that, school prepared me to be able to get up from Monday to Friday and you know get ready for work, go to work, come home," Dustin said.

Broken Arrow Public Schools says a four-day school week is customizable, but they have to meet a certain number of hours where students are getting instructional time. 

Students could get short breaks, longer school days, or a longer school year if the district goes four days a week.

“As a student staying a little bit longer you don’t notice the difference. So, I think if we could just fit those last few minutes at the end, I think that would be a better idea," said Briana. 

Dustin said, “In all honesty, the only thing that makes sense to me is a longer school year, have you ever tried to keep kids in line for 10-hour days?”

Broken Arrow Public Schools says this conversation started because like the rest of the country, the district is dealing with staffing issues, and this proposed schedule could be a solution to that problem. 

They say they offer several mental health services for students but a four-day school week could be another tool to help struggling students. 

"We’re still seeing those student behaviors increase we’re seeing attendance not where we need that to be, so it’s just a multi-pronged issue and we’re just trying to find the best most effective way to start tackling this," said Tara Thompson with BAPS.

The school district has sent out two surveys about the length of the school week. 

Nearly 8,000 people filled out the most recent survey.

Parents, employees, employees who are parents, and business owners shared their opinions.

“It’s all over the board a lot of negatives and a lot of positives and a lot of just really good conversations being generated on a lot of different platforms," said Thompson. 

Broken Arrow Public Schools says there will be one more survey sent out soon, and then a 130-person committee of students, teachers, parents, and the community will make a recommendation to the school board in February.

Broken Arrow Public Schools says the number one concern for parents who took the survey is child care, and then food programs.

“We’d love to offer more but we also struggle to fill the staffing positions we currently have in those before and after programs and we’d love to expand it fully and be able to serve all of our community needs, but is that possible? We don’t know yet," Thompson said.