AMY SZPARA

RESERVE – The summer work schedule will change for St. John the Baptist Parish School System employees who work in the district office, as principals and assistant principals and as summer school teachers and personnel this year. The system will change to a four-day work week for the summer months of June and July by extending work hours Monday through Thursday and eliminating Friday from the work schedule. During the summer, the school board office sees a slimmer flow of traffic through the central office, so administrators proposed the new schedule to the St. John School Board at a meeting last week. Employees will still work the same total number of hours, but they will also get to enjoy a three-day weekend. The longer hours will allow employees to work continuously on projects and still have time off to savor some of summer. Beginning June 4 and lasting through July 27, the school board office will be open from 7 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. The office will be closed on Fridays. Though most school board members had little to say about the new hours, School Board Member Russ Wise was unhappy with the schedule. “What happens if someone knocks on the door on a Friday?” he asked. “The same thing that will happen if they knock on a Saturday,” said School Board President Gerald Keller. “We need to have someone here during working hours,” said Wise. “Once again we are operating our office for the central office personnel,” he added. Referring to his earlier complaint about shutting schools down during a teacher sick-out earlier in the year and later having to add an extra day to the school year because of that closing, Wise said the school system is too often run for the adults, not the children. The regular school session will run to May 31 to make up the day that was missed March 12. The board almost unanimously voted for the make-up day at an earlier meeting, but Wise voted against it, arguing that the school system should not be run for adults. “People should have the reasonable expectation to do business on a Friday,” he added before the vote for the new schedule. In a 9-2 vote, the new schedule passed. Wise and School Board Member Matthew Ory both voted against the changed hours. Regular hours will recommence on July 30.