INOLA, Okla. — While many districts across Green Country are rejecting the idea of a four day school week, Inola Public Schools have been making it work for nearly a decade.
From childcare to meals on Mondays, while school's not in session, the community has championed the change.
Audra Cornett taught at Inola for 18 years, before embarking on a new venture.
“A friend and I that were teaching at the time saw a need for children in our community to have a place to go on Mondays," she said.
Cornett and Michelle Norman rented an abandoned daycare and turned it into JumpStart Learning Center. They were able to open by August 2016 — just in time for the district's switch to the shorter week.
"[Neighbors] brought donations of school supplies, play ground equipment, you name it," she said. "My last few years were in special education, so I already had a strong desire to help the kids in need but also I just loved our community and wanted to be able to do something more."
Part of her desire to open the facility in the first place came from two of the kiddos in her class.
"We only had one daycare in town, but he had difficulties being in daycare settings, and I knew it was going to be a huge inconvenience for his mom to have to take him back and forth to Tulsa just on Monday’s for child care," she said.
At the time, Cornett said, there weren't daycare's that would take kids just one day a week without charging for the full week.
Within two years, JumpStart went from 10-12 kids to about 25, maxing out the capacity of their building. Cornett and Norman then went on to open another building, JumpStart and Beyond for older kids.
Both facilities are constantly full. She said they are turning families away almost weekly, because the need is so great.
Classes are in session in Inola Tuesday through Friday. Although it's longer days, Superintendent Jeff Unrau said it's proven to be success for his district.
The superintendent's argument for a shorter week is so many holidays fall on Mondays. He also says a week day off allows for students and teachers to schedule doctor and dentist appointments that might otherwise take them out of the classroom.
“Since we went to the 4 day week, our attendance went up, and our subs, our number of substitute teachers have went down," said Unrau. "We certainly haven’t seen the educational process hurt by it and we would make the case that it has helped quite a bit.”
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For children who may be too old for daycare but rely on school for lunch, Unrau said other community members have stepped up over the years. Inola's United Methodist Church serves lunch every Monday to make sure everyone is being fed.
Unrau said it's a community deal, and the success of their shorter week has really been championed by Inola coming together as a community.
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