Highland held their final Facilities Advisory Committee meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 24. It was the best-attended meeting of the five that were held. We had 29 people there to finalize a plan to take to the February school board meeting.

The committee will be asking the board to move forward with a bond issue in November for another multipurpose facility that will act as a second gymnasium. They will also ask for another locker room facility primarily for women athletes. They will ask for a remodel at the elementary in the main office area along with some classroom spaces to enhance the educational experience for our elementary students. They will also ask for improvements to the kitchen area and commons area.

The board will look over the proposal for any additional concerns they see and move forward with the plan.

The committee first met in August and over five meetings came up with these priorities. These priorities are designed to help our students have facilities that are updated and needed for them to have a better educational environment to help them excel in their activities.

4-Day School Week

Highland has also had a lot of conversations about going to a four-day week calendar for the 2024-2025 school year. Conversations have been with all staff, students and at several community meetings.

The possible change is designed to help the students and staff with their social/emotional health. This possibility is designed to help the ‘whole child’ get more flexibility in their weekly schedules. The flexibility is also designed to help give more family time, time for appointments, and time to do what they need to do to be successful in school. The school day would be slightly longer, but most Fridays will be an off day for them.

There is also a positive for teacher retention or teacher recruitment. Our goal is always to be unique and attract even more talent to our teaching staff. The teacher is the most influential person on a child’s education. The four-day week would be a valuable recruiting tool if our district adopts it.

The controversy is usually due to it being a new concept in education. The four-day week has been in Iowa for nearly 10 years but seems to be a coming trend for smaller schools in Iowa. There is a frequently asked question section on the district website. Please click on that for more information and data studies.

To be a leader in education, there needs to be some bold steps. With Highland looking at changing their schedule and improving their facilities, the hope is to show the community we are not wanting to stand still. Moving forward into the future does require some big, bold, and epic steps. The goal is to improve the district to help the students of today and for the students of tomorrow. Someone took those steps for our education; I hope we can see how we are taking the steps now for future Husky students. Go Huskies!