Sarah Schmidt
Composition I
Mrs. King
November 30, 2017
Four Day vs. Five Day School Week Childhood is the most important time for the development of each individual, especially learning structure by attending school each week. Schools have traditionally set up five day school weeks, but some districts are switching to attending school only four days each week. This concept is most popular in the Mountain West Region of the United States where students live in rural areas and spread out more in an area. There have been 88 districts in Colorado, 33 in Oregon, and over half in Montana. (Chiaramonte, Perry. “Schools in Rural Areas Shifting toward a 4-Day Week”). Only going four days is believed to make necessary budget cuts to keep a school running, …show more content…
Schools spend a large portion of their budget on paying teachers and administers in charge of running the schools. This specific part of the budget would not change, as they would still be working the same amount of hours as on a five day schedule in order to fulfill the required 180 full school days. For example, an analysis on 16 districts located in Oklahoma spent $8,542 more on staff in one school year. Maintenance of a school is also expensive to keep up with. Keeping a school closed for an extra day would save little to no money since heat and electricity could still be powered on for the teachers still working or students attending extracurricular activities on their off day. The Oklahoma districts also spent an average of $4,523 more on utilities alone (Bartlow, Brad. Study: Minimal cost savings for 4-day school weeks, increases for majority of districts). The extra spending does not only impact the school district, but also the parents of the children attending these specific schools. Working parents and single parent families are responsible for finding an alternative for their kids to go to on the extra day off, since many would be too young to stay home alone. Spending their own money on a daycare or at home child care is more expensive than sending their child to school on the fifth day of school. For instance, a district in Minnesota is projected to spend an additional $600 more on the extra child care in the next year (Long, Cindy. “Four-Day School Weeks More Popular, But Impact on Students and Educators
Composition I
Mrs. King
November 30, 2017
Four Day vs. Five Day School Week Childhood is the most important time for the development of each individual, especially learning structure by attending school each week. Schools have traditionally set up five day school weeks, but some districts are switching to attending school only four days each week. This concept is most popular in the Mountain West Region of the United States where students live in rural areas and spread out more in an area. There have been 88 districts in Colorado, 33 in Oregon, and over half in Montana. (Chiaramonte, Perry. “Schools in Rural Areas Shifting toward a 4-Day Week”). Only going four days is believed to make necessary budget cuts to keep a school running, …show more content…
Schools spend a large portion of their budget on paying teachers and administers in charge of running the schools. This specific part of the budget would not change, as they would still be working the same amount of hours as on a five day schedule in order to fulfill the required 180 full school days. For example, an analysis on 16 districts located in Oklahoma spent $8,542 more on staff in one school year. Maintenance of a school is also expensive to keep up with. Keeping a school closed for an extra day would save little to no money since heat and electricity could still be powered on for the teachers still working or students attending extracurricular activities on their off day. The Oklahoma districts also spent an average of $4,523 more on utilities alone (Bartlow, Brad. Study: Minimal cost savings for 4-day school weeks, increases for majority of districts). The extra spending does not only impact the school district, but also the parents of the children attending these specific schools. Working parents and single parent families are responsible for finding an alternative for their kids to go to on the extra day off, since many would be too young to stay home alone. Spending their own money on a daycare or at home child care is more expensive than sending their child to school on the fifth day of school. For instance, a district in Minnesota is projected to spend an additional $600 more on the extra child care in the next year (Long, Cindy. “Four-Day School Weeks More Popular, But Impact on Students and Educators