4 day school week?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School personnel here --we are not babysitters.

I would love a 4-day week. My cousin has taught in 2 districts with 4 days weeks -- no burnout, everyone loves it.

You are responsible for your own children.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is mostly happening in the south/Midwest where K-12 education has been underfunded and teacher pay is Rick bottom. I don’t believe anyone is talking about doing this in DMV or in the northeast, west coast.

It’s an act of crisis when a school does this. A last resort. Not something Districts do so teachers can get a fun three-day weekend!

If a four-day week appeals to you, you could have been a dog walker, personal shopper, freelancer or any number of professions.

[Anonymous]

It's completely about money and trying to keep good teachers. There is a district kind of near where I live that started 4 day weeks this year. Totally about teacher morale and trying to keep them.

My kid is in private and goes 4 1/2 days each week. They have early release (2 hrs early) each Friday. When they are in school they are learning 99% of the time. There are also no random teacher workdays or one off religious holidays. They do all their training and meetings Friday afternoons. I didn't like it at first but now really like it. Gives us an early start on the weekend without losing any of the learning. There is no way this would fly in a public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's completely about money and trying to keep good teachers. There is a district kind of near where I live that started 4 day weeks this year. Totally about teacher morale and trying to keep them.

My kid is in private and goes 4 1/2 days each week. They have early release (2 hrs early) each Friday. When they are in school they are learning 99% of the time. There are also no random teacher workdays or one off religious holidays. They do all their training and meetings Friday afternoons. I didn't like it at first but now really like it. Gives us an early start on the weekend without losing any of the learning. There is no way this would fly in a public school.

The Nova public schools had half days once a week not long and. Getting rid of it caused big problems for the teachers that have never been addressed properly.

Reinstating it would be great. But a short day once a week for elementary school is very different than a 4 day school week.

If you can't see this, then I don't know what to tell you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's terrible. My brother and his family live in a district that went to a 4-day school week due to budget shortfalls and it's miserable for working parents. No onsite care provided on the day off either -- you're on your own. Most of the families in this district have two working parents, and it's common for parents to do hourly and shift work. In some ways that can make it easier (you and your spouse just take different days off so that someone can be home with your kids on Friday when there is no school) but the reality is that it means families are stretched thin with less leisure time. Plus they have the same learning loss issues everyone has from Covid, so I know my brother and SIL also feel more pressure to be doing more academic enrichment with fewer days in the classroom and concerns about reading levels and math acquisition from a year of virtual and a poorly managed hybrid schedule.

It's an example of how we are just abandoning families. My SIL and I have talked about feeling like we had kids under false pretenses, as people who had children between 2014 and 2018. It never occurred to me when I chose to have kids that my kids might only go to school 4 days a week or that there would be literally no open daycare spots because they changed the regulations for daycares and it eliminated hundreds of available spaces in the neighborhood (which happened to us). Our school aftercare literally doubled in cost when they switched vendors. It feels like it only gets worse and never better.

Families should continually assess whether two working parents is the rational choice for them. Sometimes people forget to count all of the costs…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's completely about money and trying to keep good teachers. There is a district kind of near where I live that started 4 day weeks this year. Totally about teacher morale and trying to keep them.

My kid is in private and goes 4 1/2 days each week. They have early release (2 hrs early) each Friday. When they are in school they are learning 99% of the time. There are also no random teacher workdays or one off religious holidays. They do all their training and meetings Friday afternoons. I didn't like it at first but now really like it. Gives us an early start on the weekend without losing any of the learning. There is no way this would fly in a public school.

The Nova public schools had half days once a week not long and. Getting rid of it caused big problems for the teachers that have never been addressed properly.

Reinstating it would be great. But a short day once a week for elementary school is very different than a 4 day school week.

If you can't see this, then I don't know what to tell you.

What part of "there is no way this would fly in a public school" did you miss????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's completely about money and trying to keep good teachers. There is a district kind of near where I live that started 4 day weeks this year. Totally about teacher morale and trying to keep them.

My kid is in private and goes 4 1/2 days each week. They have early release (2 hrs early) each Friday. When they are in school they are learning 99% of the time. There are also no random teacher workdays or one off religious holidays. They do all their training and meetings Friday afternoons. I didn't like it at first but now really like it. Gives us an early start on the weekend without losing any of the learning. There is no way this would fly in a public school.

The Nova public schools had half days once a week not long and. Getting rid of it caused big problems for the teachers that have never been addressed properly.

Reinstating it would be great. But a short day once a week for elementary school is very different than a 4 day school week.

If you can't see this, then I don't know what to tell you.

What part of "there is no way this would fly in a public school" did you miss????

It very recently flew. And it would really help to reinstate it. Not all changes are good.

[Anonymous]

I think school should be shorter for the younger kids as full day Kindergarten hasn’t closed any gaps. BUT I don’t think a 5 day week will be helpful to anyone. I think we just need to offer more parental leave and shorten EVERYONE’s work DAY including children as they get really tired by the end of the day.
But you can’t just shorten the day or work week without providing for other societal support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School personnel here --we are not babysitters.

I would love a 4-day week. My cousin has taught in 2 districts with 4 days weeks -- no burnout, everyone loves it.

You are responsible for your own children.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is mostly happening in the south/Midwest where K-12 education has been underfunded and teacher pay is Rick bottom. I don’t believe anyone is talking about doing this in DMV or in the northeast, west coast.

It’s an act of crisis when a school does this. A last resort. Not something Districts do so teachers can get a fun three-day weekend!

If a four-day week appeals to you, you could have been a dog walker, personal shopper, freelancer or any number of professions.

You sound really ignorant so -keep putting teachers down and deal with the shortage which willed to a four day work week bright eyes.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. I'm against 4 day school weeks. This only happens in places where communities don't fund their public schools. If we want 5 day school weeks, we need to keep funding schools. Period.

[Anonymous]

I would kind of love a four day week.

It would create a day for intensive sorts practice and music lessons. It would be great especially if it was in the middle of the week like Wednesday.

Older kids could catch up on sleep/homework.

[Anonymous]

How does a 4 day/week save money? Are teacher salaries lowered by 20%? The savings on not opening the building one day a week cannot be that much. I suppose there would be some savings from transportation costs.

[Anonymous]

I would love a 4 day week. I would take any scenario (5th day for planning) 20% pay reduction or longer school day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would kind of love a four day week.

It would create a day for intensive sorts practice and music lessons. It would be great especially if it was in the middle of the week like Wednesday.

Older kids could catch up on sleep/homework.

Are you insane? Several districts did ‘no classes on Wednesday’ during the pandemic & it was awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does a 4 day/week save money? Are teacher salaries lowered by 20%? The savings on not opening the building one day a week cannot be that much. I suppose there would be some savings from transportation costs.

It's been shown to save very little (I've heard 2-5% for energy and transportation costs). But, say you have one district that pays 35K a year for a first year teacher and that district is surrounded by others than can offer 44K a year. (these are common starting pay rates for much of the midwest, south, or even lower) The district that pays 35K a year can't compete and can't attract teachers. There's no additional state funding to be had. But they have to have staff. What they CAN offer is a 4 day work week that goes an additional 45 minutes per day. If they do that, now they CAN compete with the 5 day a week, 44K a year paying districts.

When you cannot attract teachers, you have to do something. That can mean lots of different things, a 4 day week is one option.

[Anonymous]

4 day week for teachers is great. Kids still need a 5th day of care. That can be clubs or arts days with different staffing.