Schools Districts around the Nation Debate Four-Day School Weeks

For students, teachers, and administrators, they sound like a win-win situation, allowing extra time for everyone to recharge over the weekend before returning to school on Monday. But for parents who work Monday through Friday, they sound like a scheduling nightmare.

Around the nation, school districts facing steep budgetary cutbacks have begun to consider four-day school weeks as a way to trim overhead and reduce layoffs. Ash Fork School District Superintendant Gary Spiker told the LA Times, “When everything’s lean and states have no money and are cutting budgets to schools, it’s an easy way to save money without cutting staff.” The northern Arizona has run four-day weeks since the 1980s. But Ash Fork is in the minority. Only 100 or so of the nation’s 15,000 school districts have adopted shorter school weeks.

For those that stick to the traditional five-day week, some worry that longer school days (60 to 90 minutes longer, on average) will be too long for students to maintain focus; however, there is little evidence either supporting or disproving this claim. Others have voiced concern over where students will spend the extra day. Parents’ money is just as tight as school districts’, and many cannot afford to pay for extra daycare.

What do you think? Are four-day school weeks a good idea?