According to the Indy Star, an Indiana superintendent has proposed a 4 day school week to help save on transportations costs and heating and cooling costs.
The Indy Star ran this article and it was picked up by the District Administration Daily, which is a national website run by the superintendents' association.
Interestingly enough, I was at the conference referenced by the Star and these ideas were not widely discussed - but now it is a national story because the Star reporter heard it proposed in a brainstorming session.
Now that it is a national story, I guess it will be discussed more widely.
On a side note....I have talked with parents and teachers from other states who have gone to a four-day school week and their consensus is - "it works and they wouldn't go back."
The biggest obstacles are always childcare for working parents and concerns over the curricular implications.
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11 comments:
I know my kids would love the idea IF there wasn't more homework involved. But then what happens to the sports programs that occur on that specific day off. And what day do they take off? I'd assume Monday since Fridays have Varsity sports.
Another idea would be for all students to ride the buses to school. The buses are already out driving around the whole system so technically it is not necessary for kids to drive to school. Most will argue about kids having practice for whatever sport they are in at the time. But sports are not necessary! Conserving fuel at this time of low availability is necessary.
I should add that it probably would take a change in the state law for any school district to implement a 4-day week. The law currently calls for 180 days a year. The only exceptions to the 180 day rule have been granted in hardship situations such as excessive snow days, fire and tornado damage etc.
I worked in a school corporation out-of-state that did this in the summer months. We attended school from 7:00am-5:00pm Monday-Thursday. The same corporation had found this to be so beneficial for cost cuts & extra time for students to hold jobs, etc, that they were looking at making this the standard for the school year. However, the biggest problems centered around sports activities and child care issues. Parents generally work Monday-Friday and many with small children were faced with extra costs for baby-sitters or arranging transportation, etc. This same school corporation extended the hours of school, so that the hourly requirement was equal to that of a traditional school week. I think it would be worth pursuing. As a teacher, it would help me when juggling personal obligations and appointments and finding hours to put in at my second job. I think this is an idea worth discussing further.
One anonymous comment suggested that this might be a good idea if there were not more homework. Given the fact that we have a mandated curriculum of critical standards that we have to teach for each course, it would be impossible to not increase the DAILY homework. If we continued on the trimester schedule, it would be reasonable to expect that the WEEKLY homework would not increase.
Everyone says the weekend is not long enough. Now If I could get my job to line up to this, I am there. I know that I do not have enough time around the house to do the day to day stuff. Not to mention how nice it would be to take longer trips for camping!
I also read this aticle and think a 4 day week could work out very well. Maybe parents could use that extra day to schedule dentist and doctor appointments. I know staff members would appreciate a weekday to run errands and also schedule appointments taking them out of the classroom less often for these things and reserving weekends for time at home with family.
Doing some quick math on this subject, if the state law states that there must be 180 days of school per year, a four day school week would extend the school year by NINE weeks. This would practically make it year round school. I don't know about you, but 36 weeks of school five days a week is plenty for both student and teacher.
Perhaps, by lengthing the school day hours, the school year hours could match up with the required days; thus, meeting the required hours. Some obvious problems exist.... Elementary students handling an even longer day, extra-curricular events (i.e.practices), and family time to name a few.
Colorado measures the school time by hours of instruction per week. Gramby, Colorado for a number of years has run their system on a four day week. Teachers, students, and parents have commented positively.
Another poster mentioned being able to schedule appointments on the day off. Can you imagine how much all the doctor and dentist's secretaries would hate this since everyone would want their appt. on the "off" day?
By the time the state of Indiana made this a state law my kids will have graduated. Indiana can't even decide what time zone to be in let alone decide something of this magnitude.
Wow! How convenient it would be to have a four day work/school week. Education, however, is not run by convenience. It is run by what is best for children. That's why educators come in on their off days to prepare for the week ahead. They want to do what is best for children. If research shows this is what's best for children the state should persue this issue. Wouldn't it be nice if public opinion were in favor of making things better for students than making things convenient for Doctors offices?
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