Why didn't they do this when I was in high school?

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/09/11/b2s.02.school.4days.ap/index.html

Schools cut costs with 4-day weeks

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Annie Bergeaux and her high school classmates in Midland, Louisiana, will be taking most Fridays off this year, spending the time swimming, shopping, baby-sitting, playing basketball or just hanging out with friends. It's all with the blessing of their teachers, their parents and school officials.

Bucking a nationwide trend toward bulking up school calendars, dozens of rural school districts are actually paring back their work weeks, cramming more academics into four days.

The trade-off: School days are an hour or more longer than in most schools.

Schools find that by knocking off Fridays or Mondays can save money on transportation, heating and substitute teachers.

Advocates say four-day weeks have other advantages. They leave teachers with fewer interruptions and fewer student absences. They also cut down on teacher absences and allow schools to hire fewer substitutes -- the fifth day is used for teacher training or to free up teachers for personal appointments.

School districts in six states -- Louisiana, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and South Dakota -- are trying it this year.

Improving morale, grades
Bergeaux, 15, spent her freshman year at tiny Midland High School on four-day weeks and loved them.

"By the end of the week you aren't frustrated with everybody," she said. "You weren't so stressed and cramming everything in."

In many rural areas, the change allows schools to keep art, music and other classes often cut in tight budgets.

Four-day weeks also improve student morale and behavior, said Clyde Briley, principal of Midland, 150 miles west of New Orleans.

"The biggest problem we had was in motivating students to do their best," he said. "I felt that this was a good motivational thing -- if you do good and work hard and do your best, you can have some extra time to do other things, what you like to do, or to have a part-time job."

Briley said grade-point averages rose "considerably" last year during the first Fridays-off calendar, with failing grades down 50 percent.

"Kids have tried harder," he said.

In most districts, schools reserve Fridays for field trips, football games and special activities such as homecoming; the Monday-Thursday schedule is for academics.

"They are serious about education Monday through Thursday," said Kay Post, who oversees alternative schedules for Wyoming public schools.

Nationwide, about 100 school districts are set to follow four-day schedules this fall, up slightly from last year. All are rural and most are small, each with fewer than 1,000 students.

For the first time this month, schools in Hot Springs, South Dakota, will try four-day weeks, hoping it will help trim a needed $250,000 to $400,000 from the budget. The move will save the schools about $18,000 on transportation costs and more on substitute teachers, said Superintendent Vern G. Hagedorn, who looked into four-day weeks after seeing that other Western school districts liked them.

Child-care worries often scuttle the four-day week, principals said, but in Hot Springs, parents can take advantage of a state grant that will provide licensed care on Fridays.

Even with the four-day weeks, Hagedorn hopes to log about 1,162 hours of instruction time, well above the state-minimum 960.

Turning the clock back?
Critics point out that the 1990s actually brought a push to extend the school calendar past the traditional 180 days, to resemble those in Japan and Europe.

"It's really unusual for people to turn the clock back, in a sense, and have fewer school days," said Ruy Teixeira, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, which studies social, economic and political issues.

"I haven't seen too many people say with a straight face that this produces superior academic performance, so I definitely don't expect this one to take off."

Independent education researcher Joy Dryfoos agreed. "I would think it would wreak havoc with any working parent's schedule," she said.

Briley, who said parents "enjoy having their kids available on Friday," said his school will try the four-day week it again this fall.

Each day, school begins 20 minutes earlier and goes 25 minutes later, with longer classes. Students who are failing a course are required to attend three hours of tutoring on Friday. Students cited for disciplinary problems do maintenance and landscaping work then.

Bergeaux's sister, 18-year-old Casey, who graduated from Midland last spring, said she loved having Fridays off -- the longer school day meant more time to finish homework before going home.

"By the end of the day, we went home and had almost no homework at all," she said. "We were constantly in class."

Students were never absent, she said, and the extra day off gave her more time to relax with friends.

"We were able to do so many things as a class. We'd get together on Fridays and just have fun."

But she acknowledged, "I don't think it would be too good in a bigger school."