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The longer day/four day week is usually implemented because it saves money. There is less cost for transportation, food, electricity. And yes, I am sure sometimes money is not spent as wisely as it could be, but in many states and communities the problem is more of society not wanting to spend the money on education and other public programs. I am in FL. There is no state tax. We have cut property taxes year after year recently because that is what so many of the voters want. Our state government caters to the wealthy retired people here, many of whom have actually come out and said, "Why should I be expected to pay for the public schools when my children are grown?" We have a very high percentage of retired folks here too. Due to this, many younger families are leaving FL and moving out of state, so we are losing children left in right, which in turn, causes us to lose more money. I am sure that implementing this would be difficult at first and it has some disadvantages, but most families, no matter what their work schedules, adjust well when other changes are made. Parents have adapted fine to kids being dismissed an hour earlier once a week here because many schools provide after school care and days cares have adjusted their schedules and programs. I am sure they would do the same, many probably offering special deals to parents who only need them on Mondays or Fridays. I am not saying it would solve all the budget issues, but just that this is the reason for many school districts researching it.
They can't get anything done in 5 days, what with all the paperwork, unparented children and standardized testing , and they want to go to 4 days???
Oh my. Might as well start increasing production of dunce caps fo rthe fools that thought that up and its supporters!
I think that the schools around here (Kentucky) that have gone to 4 days are poor rural counties (not my county)--the move saves money by using less gas for school buses. As a teacher, I would oppose it because we would have less time to teach. Don't assume that teachers are behind this. This is purely administrators trying to save money.
Or maybe the school district squandered the money allotted to it. It really doesn't matter how money money a school district spends per student. It's never enough because they'll hire more administrators and gin up more makework programs to spend the budget, no matter how generous it may be.
Um, right, that is what is happening. Or maybe it is a small, rural district and when gas prices shot up it caused a huge hit in the budget and few kids/families in the area means less money coming in yet they still have similar operating costs because electricity costs what electricity costs.
What exactly do schools squander money on in your area? Around here the spend money on stupid stuff like textbooks and paper but you know, maybe they should go without?
I am for year-round schooling with more 2 week breaks. Summer break while the coolest thing for kids also is a waste of time due to the fact teachers spend all of September reviewing all the stuff from the year before & all of May coming up with random worksheets b/c the students know summer is around the corner.
Year round schooling with brief breaks in summer,winter, fall & spring.
The school day also needs to a later start as statistically it is shown that school aged children (prmarily high schoolers) are not alert to productively learn at 7:30am. As an adult & former teacher, I know 7:30am is too early for me to think properly, I can only imagine students.
Of course, this would mean US society would have to make education a serious priority instead of a quick attention grabber & with all the wonderful things going on in this country, doubt that will happen...
I really would like to see this as well. Not only would it be good for retention on what's being taught, but I think 4 3 week breaks would be much better for teachers and parents and kids to make use of, either with camp type programs or family trips, etc. It would be a big shift, but I really wish we were moving this way in education.
Here is a better one. Indianapolis Public Schools decided to close on Wed. afternoons for a variety of reasons. It was so overwhelmingly criticised, they are not going to do it for the elementary schools. Imagine not only having to find daycare but having a child that needs to either be picked up or find their way somehow to a daycare at lunchtime. We are a spreadout city with little public transportation and it is a large poor urban district for the most part. Lost of families with hard working 5+ day a week folks or single parents.
so who is going to run home and get the little ones to day care?
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