Illinois, yay or nay for the 4 day school week?

[FINFAN]

As I understand it, the state is leaving it up to the individual districts to decide..I think most will stay 5 day..giving up part of summer in Illinois is NOT easy to do....maybe if they stay with the same summer break and just go with longer days...but then sports/activities get messed with ( that is if they aren't on the chopping block already) our district cut 145 today..nominal compared to other districts especially ones as large as ours.
Any opinions?

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

We have a traditional length school day, meaning a full period for lunch and recess. Our kids have a long day. I can't imagine making it longer. That said, as of last week, we have a 1/2 day every-other Friday because we've already racked sufficient classroom time. Also, my work schedule could handle a kid who was only in school for 4 days, but I'll have one tired kid at the end of the day. I'm not sure how much learning would happen in the afternoon.

I'm not sure how 4-day weeks are supposed to save money unless all of those schools increase the length of the day. How would attending into the summer cut down on the costs of transportation, etc.?

 

[pearlieq]

I can't imagine what a nightmare it would be for parents who needed childcare. Ugh. Or what a bunch of tweens/teens will be getting up to all day while Mom & Dad are at work.

Also, I worry about the kids to get their main nutrition at schools. Do they just go hungry on Friday?

 

[golfgal]

There are a couple school districts in MN that went to a 4 day week last year and it has worked out well for them. It saves schools quite a bit of money not having to bus the kids for one day, less time on the clock for support staff, etc. The communities have stepped up and several churches in the area offer activities for kids on Friday. It also frees up time for kids for dentist appointments, orthodontist appointments, etc. so kids don't have to miss school for those. As far as sports go, it actually helps a lot of sports-they can schedule tournaments, etc. on Friday so the kids don't miss school. Kids will adapt easily to the longer day.

 

[FINFAN]

well, it will be interesting to say the least ....this is all in the early stages apparently. How does practice work for sports/activities if the kids are not even getting out until 4 pm? My kid is up 'till 11 most nights finishing homework or studying now...can't imagine if he is getting home 2+ hours later. A lot of parents scramble here for spring break etc.,most "camps" or the like charge a fortune for the week, that is nice to hear that the churches step up. As far as sports happening on Fridays, how do the kids get there? Parents can't go then, since they are at work...we are almost 8 miles to DS High school, no way he can walk it. I think it will be a tough sell, but if our district handles this like they do anything else, they will decide regardless of parental input.

 

[Piglets Mommy]

I'm not in your state, but I would dread a 4 day school week here. I pay enough for afterschool care and scramble to find someone to watch the kids on days off as it is. This would put a huge strain on families where both parent's incomes are needed and on single-parent families as well. Unless taxes were going down enough to cover the extra childcare, I think it will be a severe hardship on many.

 

[golfgal]

I'm not in your state, but I would dread a 4 day school week here. I pay enough for afterschool care and scramble to find someone to watch the kids on days off as it is. This would put a huge strain on families where both parent's incomes are needed and on single-parent families as well. Unless taxes were going down enough to cover the extra childcare, I think it will be a severe hardship on many.

Except that you probably wouldn't need after school care or would need less time because the kids are in school longer.

FINFAN, the schools didn't just tack on time at the end of the day, they added some time before school too and took out some of the days off. They seem to have it worked out just fine. If our schools did this the kids would get out of school probably around 4:00, practice would start right after that and be done by 6:00. My kids have never had 5 hours of homework in one evening so I can't see them being up until 11 either way. On game days they don't have anything right after school so they do their homework then.

The other option is to support a tax increase to make up for your budget shortfall. Our district has a $15 million shortfall from reduced funds being sent from the state, that equates to about $100/YEAR for the homes/businesses-big deal. We can't do that because of some other stupid law that restricts referendum size but I am sure, even in this depressed market, that a referendum costing tax payers less than $10/month would easily pass.

 

[FINFAN]

Except that you probably wouldn't need after school care or would need less time because the kids are in school longer.

FINFAN, the schools didn't just tack on time at the end of the day, they added some time before school too and took out some of the days off. They seem to have it worked out just fine. If our schools did this the kids would get out of school probably around 4:00, practice would start right after that and be done by 6:00. My kids have never had 5 hours of homework in one evening so I can't see them being up until 11 either way. On game days they don't have anything right after school so they do their homework then.

The other option is to support a tax increase to make up for your budget shortfall. Our district has a $15 million shortfall from reduced funds being sent from the state, that equates to about $100/YEAR for the homes/businesses-big deal. We can't do that because of some other stupid law that restricts referendum size but I am sure, even in this depressed market, that a referendum costing tax payers less than $10/month would easily pass.

thanks for the info, I can't imagine an earlier day...out bus pick up is 6:20 now...and DS gets home about 6:30...by the time I get dinner it is after 7...I am assuming your district busses the kids to events that are the days of no school? See, I don't know how kids are supposed to get there or home...we were offered an activity bus after school each day as most students are far from the school we attend ( don't ask, there are MUCH closer schools, but why do the logical thing) anyway....due to the budget cuts, now students have to pay per trip on the bus which is going to eliminate quite a few from being able to ride, but then again our sports fees are doubling, so many will be unable to participate anyway, priced right out of it. Our school also requires students all ride to away events on the bus and depart from the school...so they have to get to the school in the first place, unless these will all be evening events, maybe that is how it has worked for your area? Not sure how yet another increase would go over...we have been bled dry and again, decisions that have beeen made are not exactly financially sound so many are fed up.
Good to know it does work for your area tho, at one time a split schedule was being "threatened" to us (in a bully tactic to pass last increase) so I wonder if that will come up again, but I think that was more to accomodate number of students, not really to cut costs. Our district decided to build another highschool instead, and now they have no $...I think maybe they would have benefitted attending an economics class or 2.

 

[daughtersrus]

As I understand it, the state is leaving it up to the individual districts to decide..I think most will stay 5 day..giving up part of summer in Illinois is NOT easy to do....maybe if they stay with the same summer break and just go with longer days...but then sports/activities get messed with ( that is if they aren't on the chopping block already) our district cut 145 today..nominal compared to other districts especially ones as large as ours.
Any opinions?

You must be in IPSD204 right? I'm just a little south of you. A very good friend of my DD's is a second year SpEd teacher. She was at Neuqua last year and Metea this year. DD missed a call from her yesterday but she didn't leave a message. We're keeping our fingers crossed that she still has a job come Aug.

DD is also a SpEd teacher but just graduated in Dec. Right now she's working as a perm-sub in Plainfield 202 until the end of the year. She's got a few prospects for next year but now she'll be up against teachers with more experience than she has.

As for your original question, I haven't heard about any of the schools in our area considering it at this time. I think that a lot of it could depend on the contract that they have with teachers. Some say that the teachers have to be there X number of minutes before and after school, while others list specific start and end times.

For working parents, I could see causing huge daycare problems.

 

[FINFAN]

yep 204, attend Metea. Hope your DD's friend was spared and your DD lands full time. I knw all the tenured ones were spared, but I ma not sure that is always the best choice, just becasue you are bullet proof does not mean you are still the best for the job.

 

[daughtersrus]

yep 204, attend Metea. Hope your DD's friend was spared and your DD lands full time. I knw all the tenured ones were spared, but I ma not sure that is always the best choice, just becasue you are bullet proof does not mean you are still the best for the job.

I thought that I read somewhere (not sure if it was on-line or the newspaper(Sun maybe?) )that a referendum was passed to build Metea but that they still need to pass a second one to cover the cost to run and staff it.

Do you know if that it true or not?

 

[golfgal]

Capital budgets and operating budgets are completely separate so building a new school has no bearing on budget cuts.

Our students ride buses to and from sporting events for the most part. Most of the high school games are in the evenings for fall/winter sports, spring sports generally have games right after school or the kids get out of school early for them. Our school is pretty relaxed about kids staying after school so if a student can't get to/from school for a game they can just stay at school and study. Our school isn't the one with the 4 day week-it is a couple other rural districts in our state.

 

[FINFAN]

I thought that I read somewhere (not sure if it was on-line or the newspaper(Sun maybe?) )that a referendum was passed to build Metea but that they still need to pass a second one to cover the cost to run and staff it.

Do you know if that it true or not?

NO, no clue on if true or not, but keep in mind that the first try at the referendum was voted down but the board would not take no for an answer. Pushed to have it voted on again using the location of the school as the bait. While most of us knew the "promised" location was never going to happen based on cost ( I mean, just because you are purchasing property for an educational facility does not mean you get to name your own price, duh) anyway, it passed by a slim margin the second time, then the REAL location of the building was announced ( and people were shocked by this? ) and "changes and adjustments" have been going on ever since. It would not suprprise me at all if another ref is required, but it may surprise the board that people have REALLY had it this time, and that the wells are drying up.

 

[wdw_girl_18]

I think in the rural areas where students take buses to and from school (and the buses have to travel long distances) it would not be a good idea. In the Chicago area I think it would work out fine.

It upsets me that some of the parents who are interviewed on the news treat school as daycare

I don't think it will ever happen though (at least in Chicago) since the mayor is completely against the idea.

 

[daughtersrus]

Capital budgets and operating budgets are completely separate so building a new school has no bearing on budget cuts.

.

When our district built a new high school a few years ago, there were two separate referendums on the ballot. One was to build a new school and the second one was to staff the new school. The voters passed the one to build but rejected the one to staff. The district decided to go ahead with plans to build and hope that they would get enough support for a referendum to staff it by the time the school was finished. Luckily they did. The second time the referendum was placed on the ballot to staff the school, it passed. I'm not sure what they would have done had it not. There's no way that they would have had the funds to hire that many new teachers and support staff without an increase in taxes that the referendum allowed.

 

[gate_pourri]

I think in the rural areas where students take buses to and from school (and the buses have to travel long distances) it would not be a good idea. In the Chicago area I think it would work out fine.

It upsets me that some of the parents who are interviewed on the news treat school as daycare

I don't think it will ever happen though (at least in Chicago) since the mayor is completely against the idea.

On the news this AM, they were discussing it in the opposite way. Big cities like Chicago would never go this way. They don't need to. But smaller regions where kids have to take a bus for an hour or more each way, would benefit from it. They were saying some of these smaller rural communities are stuck with either closing their doors or shortening the week. They cannot afford the gas for the busses 5 days a week, etc.

If I had kids, I wouldn't be too pleased, but if it was between closing the schools or shortening the week, I would shorten the week.

 

[wdw_girl_18]

On the news this AM, they were discussing it in the opposite way. Big cities like Chicago would never go this way. They don't need to. But smaller regions where kids have to take a bus for an hour or more each way, would benefit from it. They were saying some of these smaller rural communities are stuck with either closing their doors or shortening the week. They cannot afford the gas for the busses 5 days a week, etc.

If I had kids, I wouldn't be too pleased, but if it was between closing the schools or shortening the week, I would shorten the week.

oh wow! I was just thinking of a previous poster who said her kids get home at 6:30! I can't even imagine kids getting home an hour or two later than that! But I can definitely see how the schools cannot afford gas for the buses.

 

[bettymae1121]

They're doing this the right way. Rather than require all districts to go to a four day week, they're just giving permision for the districts to do so if they feel the need. A four day week may work fine in one district but be a total disaster in another. Wow, IL got something right for a change!

 

[daughtersrus]

yep 204, attend Metea. Hope your DD's friend was spared and your DD lands full time. I knw all the tenured ones were spared, but I ma not sure that is always the best choice, just becasue you are bullet proof does not mean you are still the best for the job.

So far, it looks like she still has a job for next year.

 

[Jeafl]

Putting financial considerations aside, it would be really difficult for my class to have a longer day. By 2:30-3:00 they are tired and a lot of them have mentally checked out. It is a struggle for me to keep their energy and motivation up to get through the last hour of school. I can't imagine tacking on another couple of hours. Little ones just don't have the attention span to put in 8-9 hour days in the classroom.