4 day school week in KY school district

[mic730]

Jackson schools' week cut to 4 days

WILL COST LESS; SOME SAY MOVE IS RUSHED

By Peter Mathews

CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU


McKEE -- Across Kentucky, school districts are cutting field trips, redrawing bus routes or curtailing athletic events to cope with rising fuel costs. But no one's making quite as dramatic a change as Jackson County.

Starting the week of Oct. 17, students will get every Friday off. Teachers will work half a day.

More at link and interesting they got the idea from a school district on CO.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/12719269.htmt

[Pandora]

Okay, I have to admit, I like this idea. Extending the school days Monday-Thursday to make sure students get the same amount of time in class makes sense. Of course, that's me, thinking like a teacher. Parents would not be as happy due to child-care concerns on Fridays. Once again, I can envision parent leaving young children at home alone creating a whole new host of problems.

[mic730]

Okay, I have to admit, I like this idea. Extending the school days Monday-Thursday to make sure students get the same amount of time in class makes sense. Of course, that's me, thinking like a teacher. Parents would not be as happy due to child-care concerns on Fridays. Once again, I can envision parent leaving young children at home alone creating a whole new host of problems.

I thought it was interesting when the school board in CO suggested going back to a 5 day week the parents voted NO.
I liked that the distict in CO came up with child care solutions on Fridays using the high school students and local churches to make day care centers.
I don't know if this would work everywhere but it's a neat concept.

[Pandora]

Using high school students to man child-care centers sounds like a good idea, BUT last year I taught my first child molester. I taught him in tenth and eleventh grades. In eleventh grade, he was arrested half-way through the semester for molesting his three-year-old niece (since her birth). I have reservations about allowing/encouraging students to work with young children in situation where adults may become distracted....Parents choose individual babysitters based on personal knowledge and relationships--it's a different situation than mass child-care.

Additional note: In the last 10+ years, there have only been two weeks in which none of my students (past/present) have been arrested. In talking with colleagues across the country, I've learned that this is the "new normal" in many areas. Scary, isn't it?