Should Rosemont Switch to a Four Day School Week?

In the last ten years, 1600 schools of 650 districts in the US have switched to a four-day school week. However, only two small districts in California, Leggett Valley Unified and Big Sur Unified, have followed the trend. But what would it be like if Rosemont had a four-day week? How would our schedules change? Is it as good as it sounds?

Christopher Davis, a teacher in Glendale, gave us his opinion on a four-day work week: “I personally do not think that a four-day school week would be beneficial for students.” Since there is only a requirement for the number of hours that students have to be in school, having less school days will mean more hours in school. Mr. Davis also spoke of,”…[having a] very long day for students and would not allow as much time for outside activities after school hours — sports, music, etc.” Some surveys even say that test scores in four day schools go down. Having more time on weekends may seem nice for students, but it could make the weekdays longer and more intense. Mr. Davis argued that it would be bad for teachers, since it would give them less time to prepare for lessons, talk with parents, and grade work if kids were in school longer, or they would have to work even longer in a day.

However, a four-day work week could be beneficial because it would help schools, teachers, and students financially. It would be better for students and teachers as they are only going to school four days a week and will have to pay less for transportation. This is also better for the environment as many people still drive gasoline cars, and driving to school one day a week less would mean less harmful emissions.

The United Kingdom program, pilot, switched to a four-day workweek, and they said that the employees and supervisors loved it so much, they kept the change. 15 percent of people even said, “no amount of money would convince them to go back to working five days a week.” At the end of the experiment, employees said they saw benefits to their sleep, stress levels, and mental health.

Four-day school weeks can be intense and challenging, but they could also have many benefits to our system, and provide us with an extra day to relax. But it might not matter what we think soon, because a four-day school week may be the future.