The four-day week trend
Several schools across the United States switch to four-day weeks to save money and let the students take a day of rest. The experience schools endured during the COVID-19 pandemic enlightened several school districts to keep their schedule of four-day weeks for students to make up work and study.
January 13, 2023
The appearance of four-day weeks for schools skyrocket in schools all across the US, especially in the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest. The new trend of schools permanently switching to four-day weeks allows students to enjoy a long weekend for studying and reviewing. The four-day week improves attendance among teachers and students, as well as saves money for the school to spend on new resources for students to use to enhance their learning.
Four-day weeks started not as concerns about student performance, but as concerns regarding money. Since online learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, school students appreciated the day off and enjoyed the reduced school days during the week. The days taken off also let teachers catch up on grading and planning for the week.
“I believe switching to a four-day week would be very beneficial to the students specifically, because it will give us a chance to catch up on work and give us a mental health day, where we can rest. Having a mental break could increase focus for students to achieve more during school hours,” junior Erinne Giles said.
The most intriguing part of this phenomenon includes the fact that several North Georgia school districts have converted to the four-day weeks after COVID when their school boards approved the idea. North Georgia school districts such as Polk voted for Mondays off every week for the next two years to offer work days to teachers and days of rest for the students.
“I support the idea of switching to four-day weeks. Having Wednesday off like we did back during the pandemic would be very beneficial to catch up and finish school work and homework. It will also give the teachers a chance to grade so we can get feedback back faster,” junior Janette Liem said.
Schools switching to four-day weeks also see an increase and improvement in focus during school hours. The mental health breaks that four-day weeks provide can help improve the focus of the students as well as teachers. The stress of students also decreases, as they can catch up and make up for late work.
However, a handful of parents do not support the new schedule change, as families must find alternate arrangements for their children on Mondays. Parents’ work can interfere with their children’s new schedules, requiring them to find a nanny or a place for their kids to stay while they work.
