It comes into effect next school year.
A school district in .the United States has caused a stir with parents after announcing nth they were going to be moving to a four-day school week.
27J, a school district in the area of Denver, Colorado, announced on March 19 that they were going to be moving to a four day school week for the 2018-2019 year.
And while the news means that students will have a three day weekend every week, the amount of time spent in classes will also be extended.
Morning kindergarten and preschool with begin at 7.50am, ending at 10.50am; while the afternoon kindergarten and preschool with begin at 12.30pm and end at 3.30pm.
Elementary schools will begin at 7.50am and end at 3.30pm, while the middle and high schools will start at 8.30am and end at 4.32pm.
The new schedule adds approximately an hour to every day, but the school year will remain roughly the same length.
The public information officer at the school, Tracy Rudnick, told Buzzfeed that they had the district chose Mondays to have off since it “makes the schedule cleaner”, as most holidays fall on that day.
She explained that the primary reason of the change was to try and recruit, as well as keep, highly qualified teachers.
She continued:
“Our teachers are the lowest paid in the area.
“This can help retain highly qualified teachers, giving them more time in the day for development and to plan and prepare.
“We realize teachers are doing this on their own personal time.”
One of the biggest concerns for parents, according to Rudnick, was how their kids will be looked after with the extra day off.
There will be a child care service offered at $30 (€36) a day – which Rudnick says is “cheaper than everywhere else” in the area.
The school district confirmed the news in a Facebook post last week, where parents took to the comments to share their thoughts on the matter – and they were pretty mixed.
Some said that it was a great move by the district, congratulating them for “taking a risk”.
One person wrote:
“Congrats to 27j for taking a risk and putting our children’s education first!
“It is not your job to babysit my children and I am hopeful that this plan helps recruit solid teachers that stick around.
“I am eager to have my child’s teacher in their classroom and not pulled for trainings!”
Someone else added:
“Our family is excited for the change, glad it happened.”
Meanwhile, others began to worry about the amount of sleep their children will be getting – and said the change was “the worst idea ever”.
A concerned mum said:
“I have never heard of a four day school week. This brings in a lot of problems.
“I feel like I won’t be able to get my kids to school most of the year because they will be so tired and fight so hard with me that it will be impossible to get them there.
“Not looking forward to this.”
Someone else added:
“Did any of you actually think about the logistics of this decision for parents and how it would affect young growing childrens’ sleep schedules and quality of family time? How do you think this improves any of our lives?”
