Four Day School Week

[mhsjax]

Well the purpose of the public schools is not to act as a free daycare.

I would imagine that if the four day school week became widespread, parents would find it easier to arrange childcare on that 5th day...programs at churches, YMCAs and stuff would start popping up all over the place, employers might start becoming more receptive to parents working a 4 day week or working that 5th day at home, SAHM could take in other kids one day a week for extra money, etc. I think the 4 day school week could be a great way for parents to be able to have more family time with their children. It could be the beginning of a new way of life for our families - more together time, more opportunities to do things in the community like visit museums, play at the park, volunteer, etc. It could be a fabulous opportunity to bring families closer together. And it could be a lot easier on parents to schedule things like dentist appointments, errand day, etc.

Not my post, but why do you think school provide free daycare. Parents around here pay for that. HOw can 4 day school weeks provide more time with the kids if both parents are working? Also day cares don't and won't provide part time care around here. I think this would be a huge problem for working parents.

 

[golfgal]

No they get out of school about 4:00 and by the time they get home it is around 7:00. Maybe your school aren't that great if you think that equals 5 hours of practice.

I am not there yet, I only go by what my neighbor tells me and she has 2 HS students. They are fine and have all AP classes and are in NHS. So I don't think there is a problem with the way our school works. You don't have to agree with me, or even understand me. I don't care. OUr schools work and I hope they keep them that way. I know shocking isn't it, we aren't even in yor school system, yet we do not only survive but thrive.

So what time do they start in the morning-if they get out at 4 they start later than our schools do-which start at 7:30, kids get home from practice around 6:00 and seem to manage just fine.

 

[golfgal]

Not my post, but why do you think school provide free daycare. Parents around here pay for that. HOw can 4 day school weeks provide more time with the kids if both parents are working? Also day cares don't and won't provide part time care around here. I think this would be a huge problem for working parents.

She is responding to the posts where people are complaining that a 4 day week would cost them more in daycare-and saying that schools are not "free daycare" meaning they are schools, not daycare centers and that you are a parent, you adjust to what needs to be done and don't expect the schools to pick up the slack for you.

 

[mhsjax]

She is responding to the posts where people are complaining that a 4 day week would cost them more in daycare-and saying that schools are not "free daycare" meaning they are schools, not daycare centers and that you are a parent, you adjust to what needs to be done and don't expect the schools to pick up the slack for you.

But here after school care at the schools is a big deal one that is highly used and paid for. OUr schools make a big deal out of them. They bring in extra activites like Tae Kwon do and things like this for the kids. Again parents pay for this. To cut it out means that parents have to find alternatives that aren't always available, especially when the school prides themselves on their after school extended day programs.

 

[mhsjax]

So what time do they start in the morning-if they get out at 4 they start later than our schools do-which start at 7:30, kids get home from practice around 6:00 and seem to manage just fine.

Our HS starts at 9:15 and ends at 3:45. Add an extra hour of 1.5 hours and yep that is pretty late.

Sure kids getting home at 6:00 isn't a problem, are you on 5 days or 4 days? Mine does this too, but he has a hour in between now for homework, and he doesn't have ap classes yet, he will start next year. I want him to do well in school but also realize there is more to it and there has to be a life outside of school. He wants to go to a military academy, they pretty much require outside activities, they want well rounded. so yep sometimes there is more to school than just school, so what you see as some of us not caring about school as much as outside activities is rally just the opposite.

 

[kamik86]

I think this could work but only if the teachers adapted their homework style. It would work best for high school age kids and maybe even middle school where they can reasonably be expected to manage their time.

I had a class in high school that gave us the amount of homework I needed to get done that week every monday. It was due at the end of the week. The teacher did care when you did it. If you weren't sure of some things you could wait a few days and ask questions in class to help you finish it. If you knew what you were doing you could probably do it all on Monday and Tuesday if you didn't have other stuff those days.

If you change that model just a bit and make it due at the start of class the next Monday (or give the homework out at the end of class the Friday before) then kids with busy extra curriculars after school could do it on the weekend. Kids with jobs on the weekend could work on it a bit each weekday, etc. I really liked this model because then I could arrange it around when I had other projects due in other classes.

For elementary this wouldn't work as well the teachers would just need to move things around so they gave less work during the week and more on the last day before the long weekend.

Even some school groups can work around this. Practice could meet for a few hours on Friday. The one that I participated in at school that would be most affected was when I did drama. Normally this would be fine but the week before the play we would have tech week from as soon as school ended until 8 or 9 each night (with just a break for them to feed us dinner). However if we had this schedule we should just have some stuff scheduled for the off day during the day.

The ones this will be hardest for are those using the more social services aspects of school (the fact that it does double as a daycare, that free/reduced lunch kids get fed, etc.) which frankly with as little money as school has I'm inclined to make those one of the things that just have to give.

 

[scrapquitler]

Not my post, but why do you think school provide free daycare. Parents around here pay for that. HOw can 4 day school weeks provide more time with the kids if both parents are working? Also day cares don't and won't provide part time care around here. I think this would be a huge problem for working parents.

The attitude of "They can't do that, what would I do about watching the kids on Friday" makes it sound like parents 'expect' the schools to provide a means of superivising their children = free daycare.

Again I'll say the same thing: IF the 4 day school week became common, things would shift, employers would become more flexible because employees would demand it. Many employers would be open to people switching to a 4 day 10 hour a day schedule...my husband's clients already have a lot of people working that way (it's good for morale and productivity for them), that would probably increase for many, but not all businesses.

If there is no part time care available, and a lot of parents start looking for it, it WILL become more available (probably starting, like I stated before, with the YMCA or churches) because where a demand grows, entrepreneurs see an opportunity to provide a service. One of the posters in this thread stated that she would consider opening a one day a week home daycare program in her home if this sort of situation happened in her home town. She wouldn't be the only one to see an opportunity. There are a lot of out of work people in this country right now....if they saw an opportunity to start a business running this sort of business, wouldn't it be a win win for them and for the parents who needed help supervising their children?

Besides that, maybe the schools wouldn't add time onto each day, maybe they would make the school year longer, take some of those 36 Fridays, shorten the summer break and go 4 days a week for some extra weeks...that would make it EASIER for working parents...they wouldn't have to figure out who is going to watch their kids for all those weeks of summer vacation (and we might not have as much of that loss of skills that happens over the summer).

 

[scrapquitler]

She is responding to the posts where people are complaining that a 4 day week would cost them more in daycare-and saying that schools are not "free daycare" meaning they are schools, not daycare centers and that you are a parent, you adjust to what needs to be done and don't expect the schools to pick up the slack for you.

Thank you.

Here in CT, they are thinking of changing the Kindergarten cutoff date (from Jan 1 to Oct 1) and people are complaining about it because "it's going to mean I have to pay for an extra year of Pre-School/Daycare" So that's the guiding factor the state should consider?

 

[LisaNJ25]

Thank you.

Here in CT, they are thinking of changing the Kindergarten cutoff date (from Jan 1 to Oct 1) and people are complaining about it because "it's going to mean I have to pay for an extra year of Pre-School/Daycare" So that's the guiding factor the state should consider?

I have never heard of a jan 1st cut off. Does that mean they are 5 going on 6 when entering kindergarten? Or starting at 4 and have to be 5 by january?

 

[MrsPete]

Yet your kids are in band and golf correct? What if something the school system did interfered with that? And correct me if I am wrong, but colleges want we rounded kids, not book worms. My kids are in advanced classes, they come home , do their homework, and then they have their outside activities and yep, darn right, I don't want anything to mess that up, why would I.

I'm not hearing anyone say, "This is a great idea! Hey, this'll improve things!" Instead I'm hearing that money must be cut in some way, somewhere, and this is an option.

I disagree, if this is all about the kids how come I never hear child advocates saying its in their best interests? All I hear are the employees & employee unions holding signs and bellyaching.

I'm not a fan of layoffs but if something has to go then it can't be the kids. EVERYTHING that can be done to ensure the kids get what they need must be done, an entire generation of children is on the line here. We can't throw a generation of children's futures away, THEY can't be the ones shortchanged. If teachers are unaffordable let go of the high-wage earners and hire more fresh out of school but whatever has to be done, don't mess with the kids. What I am saying may be unpopular but all I care about is the children, and I can live with being disliked for that.

I don't think this is a bad enough idea to justify saying it'll throw away a generation of futures, and in my state I'm one of the high-wage earners at $45,000. Why not hire someone younger and cheaper? Well, they don't exist for one thing. We don't have people waiting in line for teaching jobs in my state. Also, does it really sound like a good idea to toss out everyone who's experienced? All the people able to provide leadership within the school? And if you did throw us all out without cause, you'd have to pay unemployment benefits.

There is no way to say four 23 year olds coming out of school and willing to work for $30,000/year can't do as well as one teacher who has been around a long time and doesn't know how to use computers making $150,000 year.

There's not a single teacher in my state making half that much. Every teacher in my state is required to use a computer for some rather complicated things on a daily basis. This isn't a teacher-thing.

 

[scrapquitler]

I have never heard of a jan 1st cut off. Does that mean they are 5 going on 6 when entering kindergarten? Or starting at 4 and have to be 5 by january?

That means they can start when they are 4 and turn 5 on January 1st. A LOT of parents don't do this, so the problem currently is that there are a lot of kids starting K at 4y9mo and there are others starting at nearly 6, too much disparity, that's why they are considering the change.

 

[castleview]

I have never heard of a jan 1st cut off. Does that mean they are 5 going on 6 when entering kindergarten? Or starting at 4 and have to be 5 by january?

The cutoff in CT is December 31. The state department has tried again to move the cut off earlier simply because they want less four year olds beginning kindergarten (I agree with that). However, it was shot down because of "educational think tanks" that think the schools should provide free daycare (including before and after care), free preschool and full day kindergarten. It's quite annoying.

As for the original point of the thread, it would be wonderful if we all went to a four day work/school week. Even if just the schools did, plenty of programs would start popping up for kids on that fifth day. It makes me cringe when I hear people say "But I have to work". I have no problem with working parents (I work part time), but it's not the school's responsibility to cover babysitting.

 

[chicagoshannon]

Our HS starts at 9:15 and ends at 3:45. Add an extra hour of 1.5 hours and yep that is pretty late.

Sure kids getting home at 6:00 isn't a problem, are you on 5 days or 4 days? Mine does this too, but he has a hour in between now for homework, and he doesn't have ap classes yet, he will start next year. I want him to do well in school but also realize there is more to it and there has to be a life outside of school. He wants to go to a military academy, they pretty much require outside activities, they want well rounded. so yep sometimes there is more to school than just school, so what you see as some of us not caring about school as much as outside activities is rally just the opposite.

They could just start earlier in the morning keeping the 3:45 end time.

When I was in school we went from 8 to 3. Around here kids start at 9:15 and get out at 2:15. That's a pretty short school day if you ask me. They could easily start at 8 and go to 3 and eliminate that 5th day.

 

[castleview]

I hear you. I didn't mean all high wage earners should go but time on the job doesn't necessarily mean better at their job. There is no way to say four 23 year olds coming out of school and willing to work for $30,000/year can't do as well as one teacher who has been around a long time and doesn't know how to use computers making $150,000 year. .

Where do you get this information????

I won't even get into the ASSumption that a twenty three year old can handle things the way a veteran teacher can. The salary you think veteran teachers are making is just too ridiculous to get past.

 

[LisaNJ25]

That means they can start when they are 4 and turn 5 on January 1st. A LOT of parents don't do this, so the problem currently is that there are a lot of kids starting K at 4y9mo and there are others starting at nearly 6, too much disparity, that's why they are considering the change.

Gotcha we are october 1st. The latest I ever remember is oct 15th back when my oldest started but they changed it years ago.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Where do you get this information????

I won't even get into the ASSumption that a twenty three year old can handle things the way a veteran teacher can. The salary you think veteran teachers are making is just too ridiculous to get past.

Depends on where you live and depends on the educators, you mean to tell me NO-WHERE in any school system anywhere are ANY teachers ever making $ in this range? That's just not true, I don't believe it that teaching is somehow devoid of friends padding friends' salaries. I accept that some districts are impoverished, and that's where the battle cry comes from, but not all are impoverished. When you work with averages you dump everyone in and divide them up, I'd like to know where the top earners sit in real numbers in big cities and know if they are all worth it.... I bet all taxpayers would.

Also as far as veterans being good, that's not true either, some teachers just rot, there I said it... some teachers are awful and have been awful for decades. I wish doing something for a long time meant, by definition that you get better at it but it just ain't so, it not true anywhere ever.

This isn't to say some aren't excellent and deserve every penny, if not more... of course some do, but not all of them.

I have no problem with teachers earning their keep, I do have a problem if teachers are put ahead of the kids they are supposed to be helping. Kids first, always first.

 

[diznygirl]

I'd much rather get rid of the class size requirements and the standardized tests. That should save a bundle right there.

 

[scrapquitler]

They could just start earlier in the morning keeping the 3:45 end time.

When I was in school we went from 8 to 3. Around here kids start at 9:15 and get out at 2:15. That's a pretty short school day if you ask me. They could easily start at 8 and go to 3 and eliminate that 5th day.

Start earlier? In my district, the high schools start at 7:30, the middle schools at 8:10 and the elementary schools at 8:50. How much earlier should they start?

If you want the elementary school to start earlier (a half an hour, for example), the middle school and high school would have to start a half an hour earlier as well, because the same buses do the various runs for all the schools. One bus picks up high school kids (as early as 6:40), then drops the high school kids off at their school, goes around and picks up middle school kids, drops them at school, then goes around again and picks up elementary school kids and drops them off. Same procedure in the afternoon.

If we wanted to start earlier, kids would be waiting for the bus and walking in pitch dark during the winter, or they'd have to have three times as many buses so that all the kid could be picked up at the same time.

 

[mhsjax]

They could just start earlier in the morning keeping the 3:45 end time.

When I was in school we went from 8 to 3. Around here kids start at 9:15 and get out at 2:15. That's a pretty short school day if you ask me. They could easily start at 8 and go to 3 and eliminate that 5th day.

Actually, no they can't. These times are staggered because of the busses. They would have to move everyone back and they elementary school kids are already at the bus stops at 7:00 and the MS an hour later, so the elementary kids would have to start at 6:00 to do this. I don't think so.

 

[mhsjax]

i'd much rather get rid of the class size requirements and the standardized tests. That should save a bundle right there.

a men.