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Cash-strapped districts considering switch to four-day school week
Is the 180-day school year going the way of slate chalkboards?
As California lawmakers are considering cutting back the school year about 150 days, two Pennsylvania school districts are looking at changing to four-day weeks to save money.
The Associated Press reports that Coatesville Area School District in Chester County and the Warren County School District are considering becoming the first in the state adopt shorter weeks to deal with shrinking budgets.
A four-day week would save Coatesville about $1.7 million a year because of lower operations and transportation costs, as the district faces a $12 million budget gap, superintendent Richard Como told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
He’d rather trim the days than cut 53 jobs, and could consider offering daycare if there was a demand for it.
Last month, Matthew Jones, coordinator of grants and foundation development for the Warren County School District, told a budget team the short week has worked well for districts elsewhere, which reported better attendance and student morale while lengthening the time spent in class each day, The AP reported.
Administrators there don’t think student achievement would suffer. It doesn’t seem like something that is going to impact it negatively,” Jones told the panel, according to the Warren Times Observer.
Districts are considering taking Mondays off, and Coatesville would extend the length of the school days.
Last week CaliforniaWatch.com reported that the state’s districts are facing a cut of $800 to $825 per student in addition to a $1,000-per-student reduction already in place.
Keep in mind that Michigan, like Oklahoma and some other states, shifted its attendance mandates to hours instead of days to give districts more scheduling flexibility. The 1,098-hour target works out to 165 days, though districts plan more.
And, consider that And Gov. Snyder announced his Any Time, Any Place, Any Way, Any Pace approach on Wednesday that opens the door for changing the way we think of school in terms of attendance and the way students are taught.
State Superintendent Mike Flanagan called blended learning, where students take part of their classes online and away from school, the future at the recent Governor’s Education Summit, so student might still be learning on those days when school isn’t scheduled.
And, when you make the switch from slate to wipe boards, remember to use dry-erase makers. I speak from experience.
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