Four-day school weeks

[3Lily]

Many times in school, you will hear students and staff complain about the long hours and long weeks. There are several pros and cons to shortening a week to 4 days. Some advantages to a four-day week include a reduced amount of discipline. With shorter weeks comes a smaller chance of discipline referrals. It is also proven that when a school has four day weeks, the school's overall attendance improves. The article I refer to it states that “the Melstone School District in Melstone, Mont., has reported statistics indicating that their attendance improved as much as 20 percent over two years after moving to a four-day school week.” This is because students are less overwhelmed with school, and feel comfortable going without fear and anxiety about homework, etc.  Although there are many more pros to four-day weeks, the last one I will discuss is reducing financial costs. With a shorter week, bus driver salaries decrease, the amount of lunch and breakfast decreases. This causes these programs to be reduced by around 20%, causing the school to benefit financially.

 

Although there are many pros for a four-day week, there are also some cons against the four-day weeks. Some examples are scheduling problems at home. Although students would go to school for four days, working parents would still have to work all week. This causes issues especially with families who are less fortunate and can not afford daycare, babysitters, etc. Another negative effect is it allows more opportunities for students to get in trouble outside of school. It has been proven that in larger areas with four-day school weeks, their juvenile detention rates increased. 

 

I think that overall students and staff would benefit from four-day school weeks. I believe that it would show an increase in attendance and grades. I believe that it gives students a chance to live a life, work a job, and earn money outside of school. With less school time, districts will begin to see a change in students' and staff's attitudes. Many will be better rested, and less stressed about coming to school. I think it would benefit schools, and I hope to see this happen someday. 

 

What do you think about four-day school weeks?

Do you think schools should change?

https://education.seattlepi.com/advantages-four-day-school-week-1548.html 

https://greengarageblog.org/15-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-the-4-day-school-week

[7Isabelle]

I think a four-day school week would be nice to have because it would be nice to have an off day, but I am very privileged compared to other people. I feel there are more cons than pros for a four-day week. This would affect all families with younger children, families who rely on schools to provide food, and families who are not financially privileged. If this were something that would change, I think it should be announced way beforehand that way schools and families can prepare. 

[4Finn]

I think that would be great because weekends are way to short and you would have more free time and more time to finish school stuff. I think schools should try it out to see if that is benefits students and teachers or not and then work on that.

[3Lily]

I agree, I think that a "trial year" would not hurt. But at the same time, that could be the hardest year for students, students parents, and staff. The holiday schedule would be changed and hard to mess with.

[8Kenzie Thompson]

I actually think harlan should not have four-day school weeks because then we would have to go to school longer and have more school hours 

[4-Mariah]

I think our school should have one because then you will have a longer weekend. No because I don't want to stay later in the day because i would like to get home and do homework and other things i like to do.

[7Lineth]

I think that a 4 day week is not bad at all... with an extra break day, students and staff should be able to be better rested and may have a better attitude for school. But there are also some disadvantages. Such as, for parents who have to work and they don't have anyone to leave their children with. I think that a 5 day school week is not to bad but 4 days would definitely be better.

[7Masen]

I think that a 4 day school week would be benificial to school districts because that one day either at the begining, middle or end of the week would relieve the pressure of school off of students that would need an extra day for either work time or a day to relax and not deal with school.

[7Alex]

I think that we should go to 4 day school weeks, having a day off on wednesday. This will allow our social batteries to recharge in the middle of the week and more time for sports practice if neccesary. If we did do this we could take some of the money saved on food and put it back towards bus drivers so that their salaries won't get cut.

[3Lily]

I agree, I think that the salaries should't be cut. But at the same time, our food already is sort of poor, and not very high quality so would we have enough to keep paying on the off day?

[2kaylee]

I think four days a week would be nice but there are also some disadvantages. I think it would mess up teacher's schedules and what they are going to teach that day. In my opinion, i think the schedule is fine as it is.