BREAKING NEWS: Anamosa CSD pauses Four-Day school calendar proposal
Editors Note: This is breaking news and our staff felt the need for the public to know about this asap. This article was not printed in the Feb. 13 JE publication but will be printed in the Feb. 20 publication.
Anamosa CSD pauses Four-Day school calendar proposal
District will move forward with traditional five-day calendar
By Laura Drummy
The Anamosa Community School District (ACSD) has paused the ideas proposing a shift to a four-day school week due to "no consensus."
The ACSD had been seeking feedback from the community to address staff recruitment and retention difficulties and proposed a four-day student school week. However, in a letter sent to parents on Feb. 13, ACSD announced that it would continue with the traditional five-day school week for the 2025-2026 academic year while still researching the matter.
In the letter, it states:
“The ACSD Calendar Committee held three Community Forums on the work they had been doing on researching and exploring the topic of a Four-Day Student School Week. It is a topic of discussion in other Districts in Iowa as well. Following the forums, we asked for your feedback. As of the writing of this communication (Feb. 13), there have already been 346 responses. We very much appreciate each and every person who took time out of their busy day to provide their thoughts. As stated above, we believe all voices matter. It is important to us as an organization and as a community to listen to each other.
“As with many issues, some hold strong feelings on either side. The preliminary data assessment indicates there is no consensus on which to move forward with a 4-Day Student Week for the 2025-2026 school year. At the same time, we have received interest in the idea and will continue to work to find answers to the questions and concerns provided to us. Many of those questions and/or concerns are universal to building a stronger school and community and, therefore, worthy of pursuit.”
Superintendent Darren Hanna expressed hope that Anamosa would remain open to exploring new ideas during these challenging times. The district is currently facing issues in attracting and retaining quality teachers. Also the district continues working on improving students' social and emotional well-being, as well as increasing overall engagement and attendance rates.
“I am hopeful that Anamosa will be a community that is open to exploring new ideas. We are in a very challenging time and we need to be open to possibilities,” said Hanna. “Not all possibilities will turn out to have consensus or be what's best. We do need to take the time to thoughtfully examine them in an attempt to not miss something that may, in fact, be of great benefit to our schools and community. Our Calendar Committee did just that.”
Hanna emphasized the importance of ongoing efforts to address universal questions and concerns in strengthening the school and community.
“All voices matter. It became clear that we had more work to do and more voices to bring to the table. That work will continue,” said Hanna. “Many of the questions and/or concerns raised are universal to building a stronger school and community and, therefore, worthy of pursuit.
Now, the district is looking forward to March, as the Anamosa School Board will receive a presentation from the Calendar Committee for the traditional five-day school week.
“We will submit for approval a corresponding calendar based on 2024-2025 for 2025-2026 to the Board for approval in March,” said Hanna.
The board will also discuss an action item regarding the five-day school week at its meeting on Monday, March 17th, at 7 p.m. at the District Office.
For more information and to read the full letter, please visit the ACSD webpage: https://www.anamosa.k12.ia.us/2025/02/13/25-26-academic-calendar-progress-update/.
