Texas School Districts Switching To Four Day School Weeks (Center: live, legally)

[Grainraiser]

They took a unofficial vote regarding this at the district my wife works for. I told her it would work for middle and high school students but it would be very detrimental for elementary aged kids.

[hindsight2020]

Seems like a mountain out of a mole hill, as long as the district offers open facilities during the "flex day". According to some anecdotes from some districts on the 4 day schedule for a few years now, the concern was obvious and immediate for the kids that can't legally be left alone at home while parents slave away in the usual 5 day grind with no stay at home parent. But the flex offering self-limited the ensuing chaos. According to that one district, attendance stabilized around 25%, almost exclusively in low-middle grade and all elementary. Duh, shocker.

Now, y'all go throw a bomb with no school offering on that monday (or Friday, though it looks like most districts have opted for Monday), and watch the whole thing collapse on itself.

It appears this is largely a leveraging option for rural districts that can't compete on the money front. Doesn't appear the bigger and more competitive districts have much of a need to entice staffing retention via shorter work week. *shrugs*

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by hindsight2020

It appears this is largely a leveraging option for rural districts that can't compete on the money front. Doesn't appear the bigger and more competitive districts have much of a need to entice staffing retention via shorter work week. *shrugs*

Typical conservative politics,
Pushing laws that are good for small towns and bad for the cities

[hindsight2020]

Originally Posted by temptation001

They passed it. Starting in August all the kids in Texas schools will only go to school for 4 days.They will try it out for 3 years.

Who is they? There's no state level mandate for 4-day school.

[tcualum]

I just read that Mequite is considering this.

[NP78]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Typical conservative politics,
Pushing laws that are good for small towns and bad for the cities

Isn't this the other way around? 4 day weeks will not be a positive in the long run for these students in rural districts. All the proof you need is to watch and see what districts like Highland Park, Plano, etc. do. Will they go to 4 day? No chance.

[temptation001]

Originally Posted by hindsight2020

Who is they? There's no state level mandate for 4-day school.

My apologies to everybody. It was actually just the Anna School District. I saw it on TV and missed the first part and ended up thinking it was the entire state of Texas.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by NP78

Isn't this the other way around? 4 day weeks will not be a positive in the long run for these students in rural districts. All the proof you need is to watch and see what districts like Highland Park, Plano, etc. do. Will they go to 4 day? No chance.

Rural school districts usually run a LOT of school buses. Not having to fuel those buses 1 day a week, and only running the bus routes 4 days a week will be a HUGE cost savings on maintenance and fuel alone. Urban school districts don't run as many buses, so this will not be as big of a deal for them.

Then there is the supposed "teacher recruitment and retention" issues that all districts are experiencing. That is the main reason why the districts are pushing the 4-day week.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Rural school districts usually run a LOT of school buses. Not having to fuel those buses 1 day a week, and only running the bus routes 4 days a week will be a HUGE cost savings on maintenance and fuel alone.

That doesn’t seem to be a problem when football season comes around and they bus around the football team and band

[temptation001]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Rural school districts usually run a LOT of school buses. Not having to fuel those buses 1 day a week, and only running the bus routes 4 days a week will be a HUGE cost savings on maintenance and fuel alone. Urban school districts don't run as many buses, so this will not be as big of a deal for them.

Then there is the supposed "teacher recruitment and retention" issues that all districts are experiencing. That is the main reason why the districts are pushing the 4-day week.

One of these days they could bring back the horse and buggy. It will save them thousands of dollars.