Next year, Optional Enrichment Friday will be discontinued. The school board held a special meeting after the school sent a survey regarding OEF and related topics. With OEF being taken down, the main question that remains is what will happen on Fridays.
What will replace OEF? On March 9th, 2026, board members voted on the 2026-2027 school year calendar. There were two options: a four day school week with no school on Friday, or a five day school week with regular classes on Friday. The four-day school week calendar was selected and passed 5-1.
There were a couple of key factors that went into this decision. OEF was costing the school a significant amount of money to run, much more than people thought. According to Mr. Lecher, "It took approximately $50K per year to run OEF for about 16 times." Only 14.3% of survey respondents answered this survey question correctly.
Another part of this decision was the varying levels of participation with OEF. At the start of the program, there was a strong interest in OEF, and many students attended. Over time, however, student participation declined significantly. The funding required to run OEF, along with low participation, led to its removal.
A major part of the argument to keep OEF in session was childcare. With a four-day school week instead of OEF, parents would have to find childcare elsewhere. When asked about this in the survey, only 8 of 70 respondents reported they would have a significant challenge finding childcare. Although over 90% of parent responders indicated they can find childcare, the issue remains worth considering.
For now, OEF will continue this school year and complete its seventh year in rotation. With the removal of OEF from the calendar, this change will be enacted at the start of the next school year. Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey and voiced their thoughts on this topic. Thanks to your efforts and the school board members, Banner County is pivoting toward a new direction for our school district and students.—By George Teeple