How About a 4-Day School Week?
I read with interest a story about the Spokane, Missouri School District adopting a 4 day school week. It is an interesting concept. So you may ask why do this? It all comes down to cost savings and teacher recruitment. Those two reasons are a concern of all schools no matter their size but especially the small school districts like Spokane's. A recent article in the Herald Whig stated that he rural districts just can't offer the salaries that the larger schools can offer due to their size and lack of resources.
In Missouri there are 61 school districts now operating on a 4-day week with 28 of them joining the ranks this year. The school days are Tuesday through Friday and the days are a little longer than they were when the operated under the 5-day a week plan.
Providing 3-day weekends, fewer workdays and more family time is the main incentive to better teacher retention for these smaller districts. I am sure transportation costs are down as well. So is this an idea that will grow even more, perhaps to larger schools? Time will tell. What are your thoughts?