Pasadena ISD is not exempt from the difficult challenges school districts statewide are facing because of new state legislation. Pasadena ISD is struggling to meet the changing needs of students within the constraints of diminishing funding. But the district is being proactive and challenging “the way it has always been done” to see what changes are best for students and benefit the community. Several targeted areas will be studied over the next 12-month period including the possibility of a four-day school week. 

The four-day school week is a concept that, at this time, has been implemented only in rural areas of the nation; no large, urban district has attempted this change. “We don’t know that this concept would even be best for our students and community,” explains Kirk Lewis, superintendent of Pasadena ISD, “but we owe it to them to study the concept and see if it would prove beneficial. We have invited a group of parents, educators, and community members to take a comprehensive look at the idea. We will meet, provide information, do research, and gather input from this group and the community as a whole. If the concept does not appear to be what is best for students, our decision is simple—we will not implement it. If, on the other hand, the concept does look as though it will benefit students, we will then hold public forums to gather more feedback. This is not a short-term process or an easy decision to be made by a few people. We want to have enough time to gain an overall perspective of the proposal and the possible effects on our students and community which could possibly take two years in study alone. Throughout this process, and any other studies that we perform, our guiding question will always be, “What is best for students?”