[orrby]

This is a interesting read..

http://blogs.edweek....ay_weekend.html

Lower transportation costs. Less money spent on facilities and overhead. Increased teacher and student attendance. And...higher test scores? New research suggests, perhaps counterintuitively, that the four-day school week not only doesn't hurt student achievement, but seems to help.

[Jet_man1969]

I am all for it!

[orrby]

Jet_man1969, on 07 March 2012 - 08:41 AM, said:

I am all for it!

Me too. It would be great. With the price of gas going as high as it is, I don't know how our school can afford to bus the kids.

[Jet_man1969]

It would make things like scheduling Doctor appointments and other things easier too.

[orrby]

Jet_man1969, on 07 March 2012 - 08:50 AM, said:

It would make things like scheduling Doctor appointments and other things easier too.

Your right, Kids and teachers would have that day to make apt for dr and other things. So they would miss less school.

[myrlin]

sounds good to me but i think it would make it really hard to get dr appt and what not for the 1 day they are out....if they are out on fridays then fridays are gonna book up so early it will be hard to get it.

[jmea]

I would love this too. Maybe we should all start forwarding this info to the board.
It'd be nice if they could atleast try it and see what happens.

[orrby]

jmea, on 07 March 2012 - 09:05 AM, said:

I would love this too. Maybe we should all start forwarding this info to the board.
It'd be nice if they could atleast try it and see what happens.

If they do know about this they wont tell us. We are the last people they want to talk to about the schedules. Who know though. IT is a nice dream..

[kidhauler]

orrby, on 07 March 2012 - 08:30 AM, said:

This is a interesting read..

http://blogs.edweek....ay_weekend.html

Lower transportation costs. Less money spent on facilities and overhead. Increased teacher and student attendance. And...higher test scores? New research suggests, perhaps counterintuitively, that the four-day school week not only doesn't hurt student achievement, but seems to help.

This is very interesting reading, but remember cutting down to 4 days per week for school, adds additional expense for child care for a lot of parents who are already stretched to a limit with their finances. This would also be cutting bus driver and lunchroom staffs pay which they all need to help them get thru this economy.

By cutting these peoples pay and also causing already strapped finances for parent would also hurt the economy more since they will have even less to spend.

[gog8tors]

myrlin, on 07 March 2012 - 08:58 AM, said:

sounds good to me but i think it would make it really hard to get dr appt and what not for the 1 day they are out....if they are out on fridays then fridays are gonna book up so early it will be hard to get it.

For normal stuff it shouldn't be that hard. I know my son's Dr. has her book open for schedules about 2 months out.
For ex: DS needs his sports phisycle in April. Unfortunately his last one was done towards the end of the month. So now we have to until May. I have already made that appointment, 2 weeks ago.

[gog8tors]

They kids are out tomorrow.

[moejoefoe]

Haralson county has been on a 4 day week for the last 2 years. Seems to work good from what I have heard.

[Living4God]

I don't know if I think going to four days a week would be a good idea. I understand it would help financially, but people don't realize how hard it is for teachers to fit everything in during a 5 day week, much less a 4 day week. I know someone who is doing her student teaching in Haralson County and she says it is really tough and stressful making sure the students are learning everything that is required in less days than most other counties have to teach it and I can see how that would be true.

[DonBrownJr]

kidhauler, on 07 March 2012 - 11:50 AM, said:

This is very interesting reading, but remember cutting down to 4 days per week for school, adds additional expense for child care for a lot of parents who are already stretched to a limit with their finances. This would also be cutting bus driver and lunchroom staffs pay which they all need to help them get thru this economy.

By cutting these peoples pay and also causing already strapped finances for parent would also hurt the economy more since they will have even less to spend.

This is part of the problem with our educational system today. The system is supposed to be there to educate our children, nothing more, nothing less. It is not supposed to be a daycare/babysitter, it is not to guarantee jobs, it is to educate our children. Daycare and babysitting should be the parents responsibility.

If they really wanted to save money (which from past discussions on the calendar has never been a prioirity) they would go back to a September-May schedule with longer days and fewer breaks. If you don't start in June, you don't need a break in September! This would cut down on cooling the schools in the hottest part of the year, cut down on bus fuel, payroll, and other fixed costs of maintaining the schools when they are open.

But, that won't be looked at because it fixes problems with budget without taking away from the education of the kids. It does cause parents to be a little more responsible for their children.

[mysterious]

DonBrownJr, on 09 March 2012 - 09:47 AM, said:

This is part of the problem with our educational system today. The system is supposed to be there to educate our children, nothing more, nothing less. It is not supposed to be a daycare/babysitter, it is not to guarantee jobs, it is to educate our children. Daycare and babysitting should be the parents responsibility.

If they really wanted to save money (which from past discussions on the calendar has never been a prioirity) they would go back to a September-May schedule with longer days and fewer breaks. If you don't start in June, you don't need a break in September! This would cut down on cooling the schools in the hottest part of the year, cut down on bus fuel, payroll, and other fixed costs of maintaining the schools when they are open.

But, that won't be looked at because it fixes problems with budget without taking away from the education of the kids. It does cause parents to be a little more responsible for their children.

Very well said.

I would like to be your campaign manager please.


As far as not having enough time to teach, they still have the same number of days per year. They just spread them out differently.

[Veritas]

I am fine with trying a four-day week, but this was examined in detail by the board two years ago. Mr. Cole stated that the board did not pursue it because the savings were not enough to justify. It was coming in at just under a million a year--and with the system ten million plus in the whole (as it is once again), that did not cut it.

If I recall correctly, estimated fuel savings were in the $250,00-3000,000 range--not a huge amount when you are looking at a seven-digit deficit. Utility savings were even less, as heat/AC could not be completely turned off for a day, just adjusted to weekend setting. They saved a few pennies on bus drivers, but teachers, office staff and administrators would have to work longer days for the same pay, so the savings are not really that large. Teacher payroll is easily the biggest budget item, and that would not change. There would be new models of scheduling instruction (with a risk of less material being covered); kids of all ages would be getting on buses in the dark, and high schoolers would be coming home in the dark for part of the year. It might be possible, but there is much more to it than most people realize--and for minimal savings. That is why only a handful of districts anywhere in the state have attempted it.

[Gone]

nevermind

This post has been edited by thedeerslayer: 11 March 2012 - 04:58 AM

[katcol]

Veritas, on 10 March 2012 - 10:35 PM, said:

I am fine with trying a four-day week, but this was examined in detail by the board two years ago. Mr. Cole stated that the board did not pursue it because the savings were not enough to justify. It was coming in at just under a million a year--and with the system ten million plus in the whole (as it is once again), that did not cut it.

Yeah...who wants come out a million dollars a year closer to budget? Pffft!

[Shananigans]

did we ever figure out how the daycare centers would handle the overflow that one extra day a week? and GA is already in the Stupid category when it comes to education so how does a shorter week play out?

This post has been edited by Shananigans: 12 March 2012 - 12:11 AM

[BoXeR LoVeR FoR SuRE]

Don't like it one bit!

This post has been edited by BoXeR LoVeR FoR SuRE: 12 March 2012 - 07:19 AM

[orrby]

People just don't get it. This is not about daycare, sports or any other thing. This is about a budget and the education of the children.

The only responsibility the BOE has is to make sure your child gets the best education possible. It is not there responsibility to worry about your child's daycare, sports or any other problem you have. You are the parents that is your responsibility.

The BOE, any BOE has a budget to follow and your student has a certain number of hours a year that schools have to teach. They have to worry about how to keep the business of teaching our children up and running the best and most efficient way. If test score go up, less money is spent because students only go 4 days a week. Then that is what they will do. The BOE will do what is best for our children, Not the parents.

Our BOE have great people working for it, they normally take in hand what is best for parents, some dont.

There are a lot of states and counties doing the 4 days a week. I have several friends in Haralson that love it. I have meet several that dont. You can't make all of the people happy all of the time.

This post has been edited by orrby: 12 March 2012 - 07:25 AM

[Veritas]

katcol, on 11 March 2012 - 11:33 PM, said:

Yeah...who wants come out a million dollars a year closer to budget? Pffft!

At the time the deficit was more than it is now. The feeling then, and likely still is now, that when one is multiple millions in the hole, a less than one million dollar reduction would not justify the large-scale disruption that would result. Any large-scale change must be weighed against the benefits and drawbacks.

When the school board suggested five years ago to reverse the schedules, with elementary schools going in and dismissing later, and high schools on the early runs (as is done in most communities areound the nation), the community very loudly and clearly said no, this would be too large a disruption, necessitating before school care for elementary kids. I would imagine that one-day a week off, and longer dsys, would produce the same result.