Schools cutting back days

18 years ago

I saw this article on yahoo today. I cant believe how bad the economy has gotten. Now it is starting to effect our children's education. It's terrible to have to sit back and watch these things. Not just the schools, but everything. I see people struggle at the supermartket everytime I go there. Mothers are forced to decide what they can cut back on just to buy milk or fruit for their kids. One of the nurses aids at a facility I go to, now walks to work every morning and home in the afternoon. About a 3 mile trip total. She does this so her kids can still participate in cheerleading in school. Where does it end?

Here is a link that might be useful: yahoo article

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Comments (11)

good36
18 years ago
I don't know about other school districts but ours has lots of days off. They rarely if ever go to school a full month without a day off for something. I like the idea of shortening a school day rather than a shorter school year. Maybe shorten 10-15 minutes or so. But maybe that would not help. Who knows.
Judy
iowagirl2006
18 years ago
I would like to see a longer school day and a shorter school year.

We start on Wednesday. I am not sure when we get out, but it is usually the last day in May. I would like to start after Labor Day and get out at the end of May.

I think the kids have to have 180 days of school here.
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grandma_bonnie
18 years ago
There is a school district in our county that will start Fridays one hour later - OK for high schoolds, but terrible for k-8. Parents will he to find child care for that hour... Some parents can't asfford that day care. crazy... Our schools start August 26th and end June 12th...
jannie
18 years ago
I remember when my kids started Kindergartewn, it was only half days. I wanted all-day so I wouldn't need so much Day Care.
monica_pa Grieves
18 years ago
If you've heard of the movement towards 4 days work weeks...this is an extension of that idea, a four day school week.

I can see adults working 4 10 hour days, but to do the same with schools would mean an extra hour on each day, if you think of a school day as 5 hours of instruction. How many children can take an extra hour of school?

Not to mention the teacher's union.

It sounds simple on the surface...both parents and children on a 4 day schedule. But, what if the parent(s) are Mon-Thurs, and the children are Tues-Fri?
danihoney
18 years ago
My two have 7 hour school days, but get two early release days a month. They started today and will be done on May 27th. When I was in school we started the Wednesday after Labor day and got out the second week in June. I liked it that way. My brothers kids started on the 13th and a friends daughter started the 4th of this month. That's crazy to me.

I know in some Asian countries they have all day school just like a work schedule. I can't imagine my kids having a longer day then they do. As it is they barely have time to complete their homework, eat, and be involved in a sport.
iowagirl2006
18 years ago
I have heard of some schools going to a 4 day schedule with the 5th day (Friday) as the "sport" day - all sporting activities would take place on that day. It does sound good. The way it is now, we have sporting events every day of the week - except Wednesday (Church night) and Sundays. It gets so $$ going to all those events. The buses are traveling all the time hauling kids to these events.

It would be a tough schedule to adjust to though. The day would be longer - and they would still have practices afterward.

My kids are 10X busier than I ever was at their age. But they are really organized - I think that will be a plus for them later in life.
sheilajoyce_gw
18 years ago
Yes, my kids were very busy in high school too. It can be a lot to fit it all in.

Our district did the 4 day week for summer school. It was to save on costs and give employees and families 3 day weekends. The 5th weekday, all air conditioning and lights were to be off to make it work. People were told not to come in to work on the day off. We didn't offer busing in the summer, but that would be a big savings in the regular school year.
donna_oh
18 years ago
My DN has an interview in Phil PA today for a teaching position--He was surprised to hear that school was only 4 days a wk!

Donna (^_^)
kioni
18 years ago
Kids around here start school the day after Labor Day, and get out the Wednesday of the last week of June. They receive a total of 182 instructional days during that time frame, with 2 weeks off a Christmas, 1 at Easter and 1 week in February for Family Day. There are some long weekends thrown in through the school year also. This is for grade school. Fridays they get out at 2pm, in the larger city close to us the schools let the kids out for the day by lunch.

The Family Day holiday usually falls on the 3rd Monday of February, and then the teachers had developmental days on the Thursday and Friday of that same week. About 5 years ago the school board decided that to have the kids come in for just those 2 days that week would be a waste of time for everyone, so they gave them those two days off, declaring the whole week off for the students, and 'made' up for it by taking away 2 minutes of their lunch break, and starting and ending school earlier and later by a couple of minutes, multiply this by the total number of days the students attend school, and voila, the time is made up for! Yeah, right. I'd rather they receive those 2 days in February than just add 3 or 4 minutes to each school day. Must all work out, I didn't feel I had the amount of energy it would require to try to change that.
irishdancersgram
18 years ago
The kids in my area start next Tuesday and have a 180 day year...They won't be done until after Memorial Day, but we have snow days and any other "off" days you can think of...I'd like to see the year start after Labor Day and finish before or around Memorial Day, like it used to....

Schools cutting back days

Comments (11)

good36

iowagirl2006

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