Independence Public School District

The Midwest Newsroom is examining the effect that shorter school weeks are having in communities across Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. We invite you to share your opinion using the form in this article.

The Missouri Attorney General and State Tax Commission are suing Jackson County to toss out more than 190,000 property assessments — and force schools to pay back millions of dollars that they’ve already spent.

Some candidates say they'll be more skeptical of Dale Herl's proposals, like the four-day school week, than the current board. Herl has given a $100 contribution to a candidate.

Teachers, families and students in Missouri's Independence School District are adjusting to a four-day school week this year. Superintendent Dr. Dale Herl said data shows benefits to the shorter school week, but opinions from parents and staff are mixed.

Over 30% of Missouri school districts, mostly in rural parts of the state, have shortened their school weeks to four days as a responsive to chronic teacher shortages. As larger districts like Independence adopt the practice, state lawmakers are considering bills to reign it in.

Independence que por mucho, es el distrito más grande en Missouri que ha tomado la decisión de hacer el cambio a una semana escolar más corta, dejando preguntas para las familias acerca de lo que pueden esperar.

Missouri ranks near the bottom of the country for its teacher pay. Faced with staffing shortages, school districts and education leaders are doing what they can to raise salaries.

Families in Independence say they struggle to get information from their school board, and it's gotten more difficult since the board started enforcing a policy limiting public comments.

The schedule change is designed to boost recruiting and keeping staff as schools across the country struggle with teacher shortages.

Art Smith, the parent of a nonbinary child, said the Independence School District’s removal of a book including a non-binary character makes it hard for kids like his to feel welcome. Other parents say the book isn’t age-appropriate.

The district said the decision was about parents having enough information to choose what is appropriate for their children. But the one board member who voted to keep the book in libraries called the move "dangerous."

The budget bill still needs to make it through the contentious Missouri Senate. The $1.95 billion in federal education funds for Missouri includes more than $250 million for the Kansas City area.