TGIF In Banner County

As Banner County School's four-day school week moves through the final quarter of its second year, enrollment numbers appear to be adding up in its favor.

Superintendent Evelyn Browne told the Observer that enrollment at the rural Harrisburg school increased 22 percent from 124 in the 2019-20 school year to 151 through the second week of March in the 2020-21 school year.

"Our four-day week is very successful," she said.

Option students account for much of Banner's enrollment. The February edition of the school's monthly newsletter, "The Scratching Post," reported that the school had 95 resident students and 53 option students.

Where do the option kids come from?

Browne said many come from larger communities, such as Kimball, Scottsbluff and Gering. She said some parents prefer the smaller environment that the school offers for children, and some have believed the school might be safer from COVID than schools in more populated areas.

Central to Banner's four-day school week are Optional Enrichment Fridays (OEF) – a day of activities and learning during many school weeks that students can attend or not attend. On average, about 60 percent take part, Browne said. On other weeks, meanwhile, Fridays are designated as off days or possible snow days for students.

"OEF is a way to expose kids to different ideas on Fridays," Browne said. "I don't know of any other district doing it."

OEF activity schedules – one for grades K-5 and one for 6-12 – come out every Tuesday for students to plan their Friday. The extensive schedules list about 30 wide-ranging sessions from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. It's an untraditional approach to encourage student growth.

Here's a sampling of sessions: drone technology, FFA, Zumba, chess, tractor pull, speech, origami, Lego, creative writing, art studio, Spanish, "Better Banner County" to learn about services to benefit the community, and "Genius Hour" in the library to "read, explore coding, solve puzzles, think and create."

Fields trips also are part of OEF. On a recent Friday, field trips were offered to the Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron and to a couple of grocery stores in Scottsbluff for some comparative shopping.

Some educators elsewhere have interest in what Banner is doing.

This past Friday, Browne and Principal Charles Jones presented on OEF's successes and challenges at the spring conference of the Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association in Kearney. The discussion ranged from how the district began considering the four-day OEF week to how it works to favorable surveys of students, parents and staff about how it is going.

Some benefits of the four-day week were listed as increased learning time for students, and positive scheduling and planning options for staff. For families, stated benefits include no Friday childcare needed, student access to breakfast and lunch, and transportation for sports and other activities on Fridays.

Reported benefits for the district have included increased enrollment, maintaining junior/senior numbers, returning to all team sports, decreased absenteeism, and saving money on substitutes.

Going forward, Browne said, "I think we're going to review it every year."