(Image from CBS News)
School districts across the country are switching to a 4-day school week schedule as you may have seen on the news, heard from people, or even from Tiktok. In addition, not too many people are educated on this topic, so I’ll be providing you with everything you need to know. While switching to 4-day school weeks may automatically seem better, some cons come along with it.
Basic Breakdown of These 4-Day School Weeks
To begin, let’s dive into the details and infrastructure of these 4-day school weeks. According to Aaron Pallas, Professor of Sociology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, around 850 districts in the nation have switched over from 5-day school weeks to 4-day school weeks. This conveys the idea that more and more schools across the country are switching, but why? Well, there are various reasons as to why, such as trying to maintain the current amount of teachers due to the teacher shortage, being more budget-friendly for districts, increased academic performance for students, and countless others. Additionally, these 4-day school weeks work by students having school earlier, and ending later by a bit, to still learn for the full amount of time.
Pros of 4-Day School Weeks
Next, let’s talk about the pros of these 4-day school weeks, such as cost savings, increase in student attendance, and happier and more well-rested students and teachers. When the school week is only 4 days long, the school can easily cut down on transportation, food, electricity, and other expenses by a lot. Plus, students are more likely to show up to school because there are only 4 days, so it doesn’t feel as tiring or long. Additionally, with the extra day off, the students and teachers can get more work done, sleep in, have more free time, and multiple other benefits. Teacher morale will also increase, as stated by the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL), “ With an extra day to plan lessons, grade assignments and attend professional development opportunities, teachers can feel more prepared and engaged in their work. This can lead to better job satisfaction, which can translate into better classroom performance.” This shows how teacher morality can be increased, and who doesn’t like a happy teacher?
Cons of These 4-Day School Weeks
However, there are still flaws about the 4-day school weeks, such as having longer school days, not having anyone available to take care of the kids on the 5th day, lack of meals for some students, and still other minor cons. Having longer school days, especially for younger students who already struggle to stay in their seats, will make it difficult to stay in classes for longer periods. Furthermore, while students may have time off on this 5th day, parents and guardians still have to work, meaning that some students won’t have anyone to take care of them. This would especially be difficult for younger students, seeing as they cannot stay home alone like older students. Also, students all over the country get meals from the school cafeteria during lunchtime, and without school on that 5th day, students may not be getting a sufficient amount of meals. Another con stated by the NCSL is, “If optional activities were offered by schools on the fifth day, lack of transportation could limit access.” This brings up a great point because not all students have someone to take care of them and with no one being available to take care of them, how would they be able to get transportation? This could lead to missed sports practices, club meetings, theater rehearsals, etc, every week, which would be terrible.
Overall, with the addition of 4-day school weeks across the nation, it’s beneficial to be educated about it and know the various pros and cons that come with it. It’s important to be educated on this topic since education is our #1 priority, and with other school districts taking on this new schedule, potentially districts in our area, and even ours might consider it. Now with knowing all of this information, would you want our school district to adopt 4-day school weeks?