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Lawmakers in Olympia are considering two bills that would allow school districts to have school only four days a week. The school day would be longer, of course, but kids get a three-day weekend.
According to this story from The Seattle P-I, the bill would waive the 180-day school requirement as long as students still get the required 1,000 hours of instruction every year. The goal is to save money on utilities, transportation, maintenance and food, according to the bills’ sponsors.
Is this a good idea? How about the possibility of having school year-round?
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KatrinaM on January 28 at 4:41 p.m.
I think it’s an awful idea. It’s going to make working harder than ever for single moms, by giving them a full extra day of child care to pay for.
Plus, for smaller kids, the transiton from half day kindergarten to full day 1st grade is hard enough. I don’t know that much acutal “learning” would happen durring those extra hours. Add on time for home work AFTER that, and thats a LONG day.
Year round school on the other hand has always seemed like a good idea to me.
je9je9 on January 29 at 7:47 a.m.
I agree that year round school is a great idea. They spend a fourth of the year trying to remember what they learned the last year instead of just picking up and moving on. That’s what other countries do. As for longer days, I assume the powers that be will continue to believe little kids don’t need recess and will be astonished that they continue to misbehave and gain weight. Cancelling the WASL and putting some power back in the teacher’s hands might free up some much needed funding.
JeanieSpokane on January 29 at 1:02 p.m.
Single parents would be harmed by this, especially in the pocketbook. Most single parents pay for some day care *after* school (or in my case, both before and after); then to add a day to that would increase your fees tremendously on an already very tight budget. I would have to really debate the fact that one day of day care would probably cost as much as I make in one day - so better to stay home that one day.
This would only really work if the work force was also on a four-day week. Maybe we should have Mondays off to recoup from our weekends and also because Mondays are notoriously ladled with Murphy’s Law items. We can just bag Mondays. And get rid of the phrase to answer all our ailments, “well, it’s a Monday!”
purplemm on January 30 at 5:39 p.m.
I agree with all above. Many moons ago when I was in high school and on the debate team one topic was year round schooling. I was so adamantly against it that of course I had to argue for year round schooling. After doing my research I had fully changed my mind and to this day still think year round would be best. I also think we need to bring back art, music, pe, library and have more hands on type learning. I am against teaching oral hygiene and those types of things that should be learned at home and think that there should be some sort of mandatory parent involvement; nothing big, but something.
John3753 on February 02 at 11:47 a.m.
I agree with every one on the year round schooling, not only am i a single mom but a single TEEN mom. Im a Junior in high school, if next year they were to change my school from 5 to 4 days, i would be screwed. I can only work part time at the moment and ya is would free up an extra day for me to work but during the school day i have on site daycare i dont have to pay for. Daycare has become a huge expense for me and adding one more full day on to that would mean my entire pay check would go to daycare. and with the rise of teen parents this is not just affecting the children its affecting schooling as well.
davidburgett on February 02 at 2:21 p.m.
East Valley School District already has a year round school for K thru 8. It’s about 11 years old and works quite well. Still has 180 days, but there are breaks through the year every 5 to 6 weeks. Summer has a 3 to 4 week break. Summer days, parents need to provide own transportation and meals, since the rest of the district is shut down. This school was formulated from input from parents and district staff. The goal was to provide an extended year to reduce relearning and provide more frequent breaks to reduce burn out (students and staff!). The rest of the district eventually adopted a winter break in February. Everyone seems to like it. This broke up the long winter session after Christmas. This school (CCS) was recognized by the Gates Foundation some years back and recieved a nice grant. Parents are a key part of the success of this school. Each parent is encouraged to provide some kind of direct support (actions) with classes, planning and logistics.
I acted on the CCS Site Council during the years my kids attended the school. Some changes may have been made in recent years so some of the information above may be dated.
To have the entire state go year round would be a major undertaking, but I believe that there could be a finacial upside overall.