Chattooga County Superintendent Jimmy Lenderman {CQ} speaks with the Times Free Press in his Summerville, Ga., office on Thursday, April 26, 2012. Chattooga County, Ga., has adopted a four-day school week, and teachers, students and administrators say they prefer the shorter week. The county has also taken on other cost-cutting measures, like reducing the amount of electricity used and being more mindful about seemingly minor spending.A woman in the audience shouted “No!” Thursday night, a punctuation that spiked above the groans of a crowd at the Chattooga County Board of Education meeting. The elected body’s three newest members had been in their seats for half an hour, and their first action swiftly stirred disloyalty among some school employees.
After a brief swearing-in ceremony, the board voted 4-1 to return the district’s calendar to a traditional, five-days-a-week schedule, beginning this August. Since 2010, Chattooga County Schools have taken Mondays off and extended the length of the other four days.
Administrators argue the schedule saves the district money. They don’t have to pay bus drivers or cafeteria workers as much, and electricity bills are lower. No longer. The three newest members of the board – Republicans Sam Ballard, Brad Hayes and Julia Houston – said they need to once again fill the classrooms on Mondays. They cited the district’s test scores, some of the lowest in northwest Georgia. (The district also has some of the poorest students, with 81 percent receiving free or reduced lunches.)
Many in the crowd booed the quick decision.
“All of y’all here basically are teachers and don’t want to do anything different,” Ballard said to a hum of groans. “It’s a hardship. Eight or nine years ago the school board voted to switch to four days. Nobody was concerned about hardships. They just changed. They made a judgment call and they did it. And that’s what we’re doing today. We’re making the judgment call.”