4 Day School Weeks

[Anonymous]

Schools needs to be open 5 days a week!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools needs to be open 5 days a week!

How will is stay open if you have no teachers?

[Anonymous]

From the article: "Typically the districts lengthen the school day on the four days when school is in session." I think the school day is long enough already, especially for young children. I don't think young children will learn much more in an extended day. (I am a former teacher, and have taught grades 3 - 12.)

[Anonymous]

Our SB was ahead of their time! (We already have 4-day school weeks!) 😜

I digress. This is not a good idea for the sake of educating children, but also for the support staff. While it might drive teachers to apply, it will likely drive bus drivers, food service, janitorial staff, etc…away to the 5-day school weeks, since they are paid hourly. Sounds great, but when it comes with a 20% reduction in your paycheck—perhaps it is not so great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our SB was ahead of their time! (We already have 4-day school weeks!) 😜

I digress. This is not a good idea for the sake of educating children, but also for the support staff. While it might drive teachers to apply, it will likely drive bus drivers, food service, janitorial staff, etc…away to the 5-day school weeks, since they are paid hourly. Sounds great, but when it comes with a 20% reduction in your paycheck—perhaps it is not so great.

We have severe shortages in those areas as well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should just go back to early release Mondays.

They never should have taken that away to begin with. They did it because of selfish parents who view school as free daycare. The same type of parents who are causing all of the current problems. Some people should truly never have kids.

You mean parents who have to work to pay their bills and live in the area? Or the parents who work multiple jobs to afford living in the area and provide for their kids? Based on your comment, the only people who should have kids are people who can afford after school care or one parent who can stay at home.

I was in school in the 80’s, we went 5 days a week and had an early release day once a month. The idea that kids attend school 5 days a week for a full day is not exactly new or novel.

We didn't have full day kindergarten when I was a kid, was that common here? I ask because I am now a Kindergarten teacher and it is exhausting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should just go back to early release Mondays.

They never should have taken that away to begin with. They did it because of selfish parents who view school as free daycare. The same type of parents who are causing all of the current problems. Some people should truly never have kids.

You mean parents who have to work to pay their bills and live in the area? Or the parents who work multiple jobs to afford living in the area and provide for their kids? Based on your comment, the only people who should have kids are people who can afford after school care or one parent who can stay at home.

I was in school in the 80’s, we went 5 days a week and had an early release day once a month. The idea that kids attend school 5 days a week for a full day is not exactly new or novel.

We didn't have full day kindergarten when I was a kid, was that common here? I ask because I am now a Kindergarten teacher and it is exhausting.

I started teaching for FCPS in the mid-90s and it was half day kindergarten at that point. I don’t remember when we switched over to full day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should just go back to early release Mondays.

They never should have taken that away to begin with. They did it because of selfish parents who view school as free daycare. The same type of parents who are causing all of the current problems. Some people should truly never have kids.

You mean parents who have to work to pay their bills and live in the area? Or the parents who work multiple jobs to afford living in the area and provide for their kids? Based on your comment, the only people who should have kids are people who can afford after school care or one parent who can stay at home.

I was in school in the 80’s, we went 5 days a week and had an early release day once a month. The idea that kids attend school 5 days a week for a full day is not exactly new or novel.

We didn't have full day kindergarten when I was a kid, was that common here? I ask because I am now a Kindergarten teacher and it is exhausting.

That’s another thing. School used to be a shorter day too. Now the kids are in school 7+ hours. Elementary teachers really don’t have any planning time during the school day because the kids are in the classroom all day except for specials and that is often when meetings etc are scheduled. The school day used to be 6 hours for students and kindergarten was once half day, now kids are in school for long hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our SB was ahead of their time! (We already have 4-day school weeks!) 😜

I digress. This is not a good idea for the sake of educating children, but also for the support staff. While it might drive teachers to apply, it will likely drive bus drivers, food service, janitorial staff, etc…away to the 5-day school weeks, since they are paid hourly. Sounds great, but when it comes with a 20% reduction in your paycheck—perhaps it is not so great.

We have severe shortages in those areas as well

Indeed and cutting those positions from 5 days to 4 days would likely lower the pool of applicants vs increase it. Most hourly workers want paid for 5 day/week jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should just go back to early release Mondays.

They never should have taken that away to begin with. They did it because of selfish parents who view school as free daycare. The same type of parents who are causing all of the current problems. Some people should truly never have kids.

You mean parents who have to work to pay their bills and live in the area? Or the parents who work multiple jobs to afford living in the area and provide for their kids? Based on your comment, the only people who should have kids are people who can afford after school care or one parent who can stay at home.

I was in school in the 80’s, we went 5 days a week and had an early release day once a month. The idea that kids attend school 5 days a week for a full day is not exactly new or novel.

Remember at the start of the pandemic when teachers said to trust them, they could drastically reduce the amount of instruction our kids receive but everything would be a-ok because they're teachers and they can get kids back on track no problem? Doesn't seem like you made good on that promise, does it...while the rest of us busted our a*** to still do our jobs and now pick up the slack in teaching our kids too... I will never forget that.

[Anonymous]

Instead of 4 day weeks I’d just like days to be an hour shorter. Seems like that would solve most problems. We’d still meet minimum hours of school, teachers get an extra hour of planning, support staff works 5 days a week, parents get 5 days of care.

[Anonymous]

Most kids are barely attending school 5 days in socio-economic school districts. We might as well offer some for of child care for those who cannot stay at home. Let the teachers rest for one day and encourage parents to participate in enrichment activities or some other supplement for in school learning.

School is changing and our kids are rebelling and nothing is working. Let the students and caregivers find another way to use their time while out of school for one day.

[Anonymous]

I agree with either a shorter day or half day.

Anonymous wrote:Instead of 4 day weeks I’d just like days to be an hour shorter. Seems like that would solve most problems. We’d still meet minimum hours of school, teachers get an extra hour of planning, support staff works 5 days a week, parents get 5 days of care.

[Anonymous]

This is more about maintaining a good pool of teachers.

Anonymous wrote:Schools needs to be open 5 days a week!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is more about maintaining a good pool of teachers.

Anonymous wrote:Schools needs to be open 5 days a week!

The goal is good public schools— which is a moot point if kids aren’t going to school. A 4-day school week is, at best, a quick fix that will ultimately lead to thr downfall of the public school system.