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HAZLE TOWNSHIP &#8212; The Hazleton Area School Board may have approved four-day school weeks for three months this winter, but a lot of details remain unresolved, Business Manager Anthony Ryba said Wednesday.But if past is prologue, Luzerne County&#8217;s largest district may be trailblazing a path other districts follow.The school board voted Monday to give students Mondays off in December, January and February as a cost cutting move. While Ryba detailed other aspects of budget savings at a board budget meeting, he didn&#8217;t touch on details of the four-day plan.&#8220;We&#8217;ve never done it before,&#8221; he explained after the meeting. In the past two decades, Hazleton Area has been vanguard on other issues, including transparent backpacks, stricter dress codes and a full-time security director.After the meeting, Ryba did expand on some aspects of the move.For starters, it likely won&#8217;t impact parents as much as it first sounds, he said. Of the 12 weeks, several were already scheduled to be four-day weeks thanks to holidays. Others were or will be scheduled as &#8220;Act 80&#8221; days for teacher attendance but no students.That also means the district may not have to add days elsewhere in the school calendar. While the state requires 180 school days, it also lets districts fulfill that mandate by having a minimum number of class hours &#8212; 900 in elementary schools and 990 in high schools. Ryba noted that, like most local districts, Hazleton Area schedules more than the minimum hours each year.Part of the savings would come from reducing bus runs, but by law the district would still have to transport private school students who did have class. Ryba said the district has about 80 runs a day while in session. When the district is closed but the other schools are open, there are &#8220;15 or 16 runs.&#8221;The four-day week is part of a larger package of cuts intended to close a nearly $5.7 million hole in next year&#8217;s budget. During the non-voting meeting attended by several board members, Ryba noted the district hopes to save a bit more than $1 million by cutting kindergarten to half-day and at least $500,000 by making changes in transportation routes.Even with the cuts, the district may need to raise taxes above a state limit. Ryba presented four options, dubbing &#8220;option zero&#8221; &#8212; no change &#8212; as &#8220;no option at all&#8221; because the district would see a decrease in real estate income.Option two would raise taxes slightly in Schuylkill County, keep them the same in Luzerne County and lower them slightly in Carbon County, generating only $17,821 in new revenue. Option three would raise taxes to the state limit, generating an additional $291,406.Ryba said the district has received permission to exceed the state cap under allowed exceptions. Option three would balance the budget by generating $3.1 million additional dollars, while option four would raise taxes to the maximum allowed with the exceptions, generating nearly $3.7 million more.Ryba noted that Hazleton Area currently has the lowest property tax rate among Luzerne County&#8217;s 11 districts.<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Hazleton Area still needs to iron out plans</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Mark Guydishmguydish@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</shirttailMeta></div>

Hazleton Area’s move to 4-day school week in winter still not ironed out