COUNTY LIFE
Two more county schools join the four-day week schedule
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
Two more Montague County school districts will be moving to the four-day school week this year with teacher retention and recruitment the driving forces for this change.
Gold-Burg and Montague Independent School Districts join Prairie Valley ISD, which enters its second year of the four-day week. While other county districts have not formally gone to four-days, they are all using different methods to get a shorter week in some fashion while still getting the required 75,600 minutes for students.
Bowie has been releasing early on Wednesdays for several years, and Nocona has been releasing at noon Fridays. Forestburg also has a similar schedule releasing about one hour earlier on Fridays.
Rural school districts in Texas have been switching to the four-day week in the last couple of years, and now some larger districts are giving it a try including Mineral Wells ISD which has about 3,000 students.
National teacher organizations say the shortage in staff has hit crisis levels, and while there is no database to track this information local and regional educators gathering for training in the last few weeks have all shared stories of needing teachers at all levels.
Why are America’s schools so short-staffed? Experts point to a convergence of different factors starting with the pandemic-induced teacher exhaustion, low pay and a growing lack of respect for their profession across the board from parents and politicians to their own school’s boards.
Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.
The 22nd annual July Jam returns on July 27 to the Bowie Community Center West Hall, 413 Pelham Street in Bowie.
There will be a “chickin’ pickin’ fiddling fun time” as guests will be entertained by amazing fiddling tunes and enjoying a chicken meal with delicious homemade jams because it wouldn’t be July Jam without it.
Tickets are just $15 with the event starting at 6 p.m. The funds raised help provide awards for the Championship Fiddler Competition during Chicken and Bread Days Heritage Festival on Oct. 5.
This attracts talented musicians from all over to visit downtown Bowie to test their fiddling skills on stage in the Bowie Fire Hall on Oct. 5.
Along with the live fiddling entertainment, come hungry and be ready to outbid your neighbors at the silent auction or just stop by for a great meal, fellowship and soak in the air conditioning.
Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.
The Nocona City Council met this past week making plans for budget and tax rate hearings.
Councilors received a brief update on the 2024-25 budget preparations. City Secretary Revell Hardison said the final proposal is almost complete and they now await the arrival of the no-new revenue tax rate that will be reviewed by the council after it is calculated by the tax collector.
The proposal includes a tax rate increase of about 3% similar to last year and there will be a small increase in water and sewer rates, but Hardison said the final crunch on those will come after the tax rate projections arrive.
Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.
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