Mike Cook: Reconsider 4-day
Saturday, April 30, 2005
The school district in Meeker tried the four-day school week several years ago. The School Board sold it to the public as a cost savings, but the only money saved was transportation costs.
The board decided it would only continue the four-day calendar until financial burdens eased, which eventually did, but the board would not go back to the traditional five-day week. A group of locals got together, interviewed teachers, business owners, law enforcement, courts, parents and other community members. They brought the information to the School Board as proof the four-day week was not working. Long days for elementary children, law enforcement problems and day care were among the problems.
Teachers in the elementary school freely admitted teaching core classes in the mornings, because the children were burned out by the afternoon. For the high school students, the four-day schedule probably worked better.
I think some teachers were using this schedule as an extra day off. The public was told the teachers would be in school and available for tutoring and parental discussions, sadly this was not always the case.
Hayden, please consider carefully what you are doing. If the teachers need more time together, let them get together after or before school. Do not make the students suffer.
Mike Cook
Meeker
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