When schools start seriously considering cutting out a day from their schedule, you know we have a serious problem.
It wasn't stated clearly but I'm guessing that the four days would be longer than the original five to make up for the hours missed, but that's not the real problem here. What can be done about this ever-worsening fuel situation?
I didn't like the 4-day idea when I first heard about it, but the more I think about it, reducing our usage seems to be the most viable option.
What a sad situation we have created for ourselves.

Well I've done the math over and over and over...

I honestly think people are being misled aboutt he 4-day thing.

Unless you cut out the 8 hours totally, I can't think of how anything will be saved.

I should recant, you're right, fuel would be the only thing to save.

Heating and cooling? Electricity? Water? How? 2 hours later each day equals 40 hours the units are running...

Am I taking crazy pills?

It would cost me more because I'd have to arrange child care for my kids on their extra day off. The schools will have to suck it up like the rest of us.

Serving one less lunch (and some case breakfast) a week I think would also count in savings. Bus fuel, plus fuel for every parent and/or student would have savings. I'm sure there are other savings too, it would be interesting to see how some of the other districts that have switched to this are doing.

On a personal note, I love the idea of 4-day weeks. I would also like to see the trend spill over to the local work sector as well. It would be nice to have more family time! Four days on and three days off, not cramming everything that needs to be done on the weekends would be very helpful. I would like very much to see this work out!

Mr-A, yeah I see your point on the extra child care, but if businesses adopt the same trend, it might work out at least for some. It might also help some of the "latch-key" kids too. Would any personal savings (time, fuel, etc) offset the extra day of childcare? Nonetheless, I am sure that it would also be a pain and extra expense for the ones it didn't work out for with childcare. I don't have a good solution there.

Lets find a solution for the high fuel prices, then the rest will work itself out.

we should have found a solution to the fuel shortage etc when it happened the last time in what, the 70's? the writing was on the wall then. this isn't something that just happened overnite.

I would be concerned about the learning curve. It seems a lot (NOT all) children get a little bit antsy as the day wears on. Will those extra two hours be as productive learning-wise, or would some "expert" say that it would be better as it is now?

What a great idea! I think that this would be great as the economy has continually increased with the price of all necessities have gone up.

What DESE, superintendents of local schools and board members fail to recognize and mention is the fact of the lenghty daily hours our children will be in school. Let's cut to the chase and recommend a straight 9 hour day 4 days week (36 hours/week). This will have the students attending 1 additional hour of school a week seeing that they currently attend an average of a 7 hour day 5 days a week (35 hours/week).

What will the longer day do to the school sponsored extra curricular programs?

Our family is in support of any recommendations/solutions, but lets be realistic... 9 hours of school, 1 hour before, 1-2 hours of homework after school= 12 hours which is more than the average national work day. This will be hard on maintaining quality family time.

Politicians and leaders...lets be smart in making these decisions FOR our children NOT for the cost of the economy.

Lets face it folks.....we the American people will still pay the higher price of gas for lesser important activities, so why is this a big concern now?

The cost is not eliminated by a 4 day week. As idilic as it sounds all they would be doing is passing on the cost to the parents. So daycare would run at least $20 for the day. If your child is able to stay home it means running the AC or heat, electricity meals etc. Then you have to consider as an employee what would you do on your day off... Drive to the store, probably have lunch or run errands. Where is the savings now?

I do see your points. For me personally, that wouldn't be an issue. I wouldn't need childcare, my AC/heat is running whether we are at home or not during the day. The kids need lunch every day and I am paying for it whether they are at home or at school. As for any errands I might do, its just one more day to do them in and more time I can spend with my family not doing errands, etc. However, I do realize not everyone faces the same set of circumstances. I would be more concerned with the points raised above about the curriculum and what's best for the kids, whether that be keeping things the same, or changing them up to a 4-day. I want to know what savings would incur specifically, etc. And as for passing the costs onto the parents, my thing there is that kids ARE the parent's responsibility, the school's job is to provide the best education they can. If that is by exploring the pros and cons of a 4-day school week versus the traditional 5-day, I am all for it. If its not feasible, so be it. Heck in some states, they go to school all year round, 6-8 weeks on, then 3 weeks off with a slightly longer summer break, but I bet their schools are air-conditioned too.

I think the four day week idea is a bad idea, we now have our high school kids required to graduate with more credits starting this year, how on earth are they suppose to accomplish that in a four day schedule? Our kids, honestly need to be in school for the five whole days a week for the education they are required. I believe they are not getting what they need now, because of all of the early outs, teachers meetings, etc. let alone cut it to a four day week. Anyone agree?

We are already behind so many other countries in most subjects. Cutting to 4 days a week may/may not work. What WOULD work is if teachers didn't have to spend 75% of their time disciplining unruly kids because their parents are being parents and disciplining at home so they'd know better than to misbehave at school. Many school districts across the country go year round and have tri-mesters schedules. Most of us didn't have air conditioning in our schools and we're just fine. Stop babying these kids! We have a generation of entitlement brats on our hands. It wouldn't kill them to learn that life isn't fair and they better buckle down or they'll be working at McDonald's their entire life!!

Maybe teacher meetings and such could be on the 5th day, and if kids used the extra day off wisely a lot of homework could be accomplished. Maybe, just a thought.

Four day school weeks (instead of 5) will cut the cost only of fuel. I would like to see how the SJSD can cut costs in other areas as well. Such as, administrative lunches, perks, etc. If we're all cutting back, everyone should be cutting back. (And I'm sure this is the case in every district, but I'll discuss my home district to be fair.)

Secondly, I doubt this is going to gain much ground locally since there are so many children that would need the additional supervision on the 5th day for working parents. Not sure what the statistic is, but I'd gather that not many of the students under age 13 have a parent at home to be supervised by...which in essence brings about a hardship and creates another need (afterschool care, that extra full day of care, savings on the district more expense on the parents,etc).

Since the ones scouring over the budget are those that are served by the most perks, wouldn't we all be better served by an arbitrary party to give us the best scenario to save where necessary? And BTW--are we still getting the big push to close some neighborhood schools and bus the kids into the new ones? Does that make prudent sense with the cost of fuel? Or was the transportation distance requirement going to be increased from living more than a mile from school too?

agree fly with you about how the teachers and the use on fridays, but the way teachers educate our elememtary and middle school children are by the books, but our high school children are different, they are educated and tested by lectures and not by the books, ask any of our high schoolers. My daughter for instance was homebound for an illness and was brought her books for her classes, some were impossible for her to do work from because the teachers taught by lecturing and nothing from the books. So she had to wait till the following school year to complete her junior and seinior years literally in the class to be able to pass. So my point is, that if these children are cheated out of a school day every week they will loose part of their education, because they are not literally in the class rooms taking notes to study from.

SuzyQ obviously our kids are our responsibility. I also pay my taxes and school lunch. My point is merely these costs are not being eliminated just not incurred by the School District. My other more pressing concern would be, can we expect our kids to be in school for 10 hours a day and give it their best without getting mentally exhausted. I also agree that we have a high number of kids that have two working parents or maybe single parents without other options.

Where I came from we had school all year round with 3 breaks of about 4 weeks each. It also kept kids out of trouble because they didn't have too much time on their hands by the end of the summer.

Mrs-A, I do see your points, and they are good ones too. I think the change could cause alot of hardships on parents, but I also agree that it should be explored-I am willing to take on some added hardship if it works to the best interest of our children, etc. I didn't want to lose site of the pros and cons for all the wrong reasons. I do recognize just because it wouldn't be that big of deal for me to have this change, it might not be that way for my neighbor. If a school district starts cutting programs because of not enough funds, but a 4-day school day might make a difference, I just want to hear about it. I have read of places that went to this, taking Monday off as to not to interfere with sports and other afterschool activities and the teachers using every other Monday for their meetings and eliminating alot of the early outs, etc. Mondays are also one of the higher days of absentees already. There have also been reports of better grades in some of these same districts. However, I do wonder how we can expect especially the younger kids to go such a long day.The flip side though is that alot of these same kids are up and out to childcare places at the brink of dawn already and then off to childcare or afterschool programs after school is out. Plus, I'm not sure that it would be a 10 hour day by my calculation. I wonder if any teachers/counselors out there have any opinions?

If I add 2 hours to my gradeschoolers schedule, it would go from 6.5 to 8.5 hours. If I add it onto my middle and highschoolers, it would go from 7 to 9 hours.

Heck RH- I see your point as well, but I sure have a problem sending my kids to an un-airconditioned buidling while the administration kicks back in their cooled offices. I really don't think a bunch of hot, sweaty, sleepy kids would learn much on a day with an index >100. I think the days are alot hotter now then they used to be, greater humidity, etc. I do agree though parents need to better discipline their kids and should be repercussions to disrupting the classrooms.

Absolutely suzyQ..there needs to be real consequences to the parents when their kids are continually problems in the classroom. Kids will be orny at times, but it's the same kids over and over who make it difficult for teachers to do their job and that is teach. It is NOT their job to parent/discipline people's kids...that is a parents job to do. I get so tired of hearing people say that their kids are the teachers problem from 8-3, not theirs. I'd also like to know why the public schools have such a hard time making money stretch.All the private schools..Catholic, Christian, etc. all do a lot w/no fed/state funding and their kids do well in academics, sports and other activities. I know there are fewer of these schools, but they are still more efficient and get better results alot of the time.

I THINK ITS GREAT FOR THE KIDS AND TEACHERS, WITH ALL THE TROUBLE THE WORLD IS HAVING WITH SCHOOL VIOLENCE AND FOR THE PEOPLE WITH NO BABYSITTER FOR THE KIDS GET A JOB AND PAY SOMEONE TO WATCH THEM OR HAVE A FAMILY MEMBER BABYSIT
I THINK ARE KIDS AND TEACHERS CAN USE THAT EXTRA DAY OFF FOR FAMILY TIME.

I think that if we go to a 4 day week at 10 hours a day, the drop out rate is going to be through the roof, and as a parent of a child who loves school, it is going to hinder her interest in school. I think that you need to take a collective vote on this matter before you decide to put our children through that strain. If they start school at 7 a.m. they will not be out of schoold until 5 in the evening, to me that is ridiculous. And it should really be thought about long and hard, put yourself in a kindergartener's shoes who will have to do this and you tell me how fast they are going to get sick of this.

Four day school week? It would give the underpaid teachers a break from the problems such as drug use, cheating, insubordination, truancy, behavior issues and intimidation--which result in countless school and classroom disruptions. Approximately one-half of all classroom time is taken up with activities other than instruction, and discipline problems are responsible for a significant portion of this lost instructional time.

In addition, there are many parents that use the school system as childcare and expect the teachers to "make up" on their lack of discipline in the home. Why not give the teachers a break?

raosborne- if you add 2 hours to your kindergartners schedule, an hour before and hour after, does it really go from 7-5? Is it really 10 hours? My kids attend St. Joseph School District and the grade schools, middle, and high school they attend, none of them would be 10 hours, nor the time frame you mentioned-I'm not sure where the 10 hours came from that is being mentioned? I do agree it would be hard on the little ones, but I think they would quickly adjust. Afterall, I see many parents dropping their kids off at the before and after-school care (B/A) for greater than these 2 extra hours of school. I'm sure there would be some adjustment and "break up" of the day to accomadate the little ones. In fact, I don't even think it is law (unless it changed in the last 5-10 years) that a child has to attend kindergarten or do it at full day. The oldest of my kids now in high school I chose to only send half-days in kindergarten much to their dismay (my child WANTED to stay), but I felt too, too long of a day. So if the parents didn't want to, they could choose different for their kindergartner (again, unless the law has changed). As for the drop out rate, I would want to see some data from other districts that has done this. Just a thought...

ibham2-
"In addition, there are many parents that use the school system as childcare and expect the teachers to "make up" on their lack of discipline in the home. Why not give the teachers a break?"

I wholeheartedly agree with this!

The school day would not be 10 hours, kids don't currently attend school for 40 hours a week, so they still wouldn't if the days were cut to 4 per week. Most schools are 8:15 to 3:15 which is 7 hours of school/day at the current 5 day a week system. 7x5 is 35 hours, to get 35 hours in 4 days school would be 8.75 hours a day or from 8:15 to 4:45. It would be a long day for some, but would also allow for longer class periods which is great for art, band & science - classes where you need to get out lots of supplies and have time for clean ups. However with after school activities and homework this could be a very long day for some children, although most go to after school child care anyway. So they'd just be spending that time away from home at school instead of at daycare.

Lots of pros and cons, I'm excited to see what may come of this idea.

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN2439039120080724?feedType=RSS&feedName=lifestyleMolt&rpc=22&sp=true

This article lists some other districts that have implemented or considered the 4-day week. A superintendent in Kentucky says "The shortened week at Webster also brought unexpected benefits such as improved attendance and a boost in student performance."

PONCHO quote "AND FOR THE PEOPLE WITH NO BABYSITTER FOR THE KIDS GET A JOB AND PAY SOMEONE TO WATCH THEM OR HAVE A FAMILY MEMBER BABYSIT" I already pay $580 for daycare and that is if there are only 4 weeks in a month. My husband and both work and earn decent salaries, so I don't think your statement applies to the broad spectrum of parents here. We are not all JOBLESS. As for getting a family member...we'll unfortuanatly for me they have jobs too.

I do like the idea of 4 days if our kids can keep pace with the curriculum. It may be harder for some of our kids that are a little more challanged by disabilities and are already trying to keep pace.

Mrs_America wrote: "I already pay $580 for daycare and that is if there are only 4 weeks in a month."

I realize that women who compete in beauty pageants aren't typically the sharpest tools in the shed, but you may have just surpassed Miss North Carolina.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1Szcx0VkRo

I'm pretty sure Feb, and May 2008 had 5 weeks.

February had 4 weeks + 1 day. May had 4 weeks + 2 days.

A week typically consists of 7 days, or 5 work days (but you have to wait until the weekend is over until you get to start counting the next week in the month).

At no point is there ever more than 4 weeks in a month.

I just wanted to give her the heads up because her daycare provider may be taking financial advantage of its clients who don't understand calendars.

Thanks for the compliment. Always thought I had beauty and brains. Wait let me calculate....average month of 31 days devided by 7 days in a week is an average of 4.428 weeks.

akm...thanks. They did.

@Mrs_America: The term "average" is not defined as; take the number that is highest, because it helps your side of the arguement.

This is a prime example of why there isn't a math category in beauty pageants

Oh my gosh KcLeep. There is 52 weeks in a year. Her monthly rate is based on a month with only 4 Fridays. This is not rocket science and not the topic of the discussion.
As to the 4 day school week, I am against it. Although I think it might work in the Elementary age, kind of, I believe it would be awful in the Middle School and High School ages. I have one child in each level, which are all very school active. How would they be able to have practices and meetings and be able to have time for homework and family activities.
I asked my Middle school child what she thought about this topic. And the point she brought up I hadn't even thought of yet. If you only attend 4 days a week and get the flu and miss 2 days of school, you have just then missed 1/2 a week of school and what a mess that would cause on trying to catch up. And would the classes then be changed to block classes.
I must agree with the only cost we would be saving would be bus transportation. Maybe the money crunchers should look at the busing companies overhead and routing. If it is like ours their use to be 3 different buses that brought home the middle school and high school kids in our 1 block radius. Last year at the end of the year they finally figured this out and now their is two buses. Our middle school and high school get home on the same buses and they are 1 middle schooler and 3 high schoolers, confusing.
Anyways at this point, the money conserved would have to be more than gas, to make this an issue worth changing.

As for the schools going to a four day work week, maybe just for the students.

Let the teachers work and utilize the 5th day for preparing for the next week, actually reviewing the students work, meeting with parents, blah blah blah.

i wonder if there is research on the retention of material over a three day weekend vs a two day. i do know that when students return from summer break there is a lag time on getting their minds in gear, so that there is a lot of review of work from the previous year. studying is a habit and a learned ability which benefits from repetition. would students learn less effectively when their minds are "exercised" on a four day on and three day off schedule?

I see people only mentioning fuel being the only savings. There would be savings without an extra day of lunch/breakfast meals in addition to fuel. I would like to hear more totals and other savings that would happen.