Some area schools have chosen to take advantage of a recent change in legislation and will implement a four-day school week next semester.
Beginning this year, the Oklahoma legislature provided school districts with the choice to meet for either 1080 instructional hours or 180 days. Many districts have opted for the flexibility of choosing the hours.
Recently Sharon-Mutual schools announced they will begin a four-day week after the Christmas break
In previous interviews, Sharon-Mutual Superintendent Emma Sidders said, “We have anticipated that we would need the four-day week, and have had a longer school day all year.”
The school has added 45 minutes of class time to each day since the beginning of the year, which enables the district to meet the 1080 hours required by the state. By having no school on Friday, Sidders said they hope to save significantly on overhead, transportation and utility costs.
Students at Mooreland and Buffalo will begin having Fridays off later in the second semester. However, neither school has had to lengthen the school day.
Students at Mooreland will have Fridays off beginning Feb. 22, although Superintendent Terry Kellner said the school will still be in session 180 days. They scheduled extra snow days, began the school year a little earlier and are taking a shorter Christmas break, he said.
Kellner said, “It is my belief we need to be in school 180 days. Choosing the hours has just given us the option to simply rearrange our calendar.”
Like Mooreland, Buffalo schools have also chosen to meet the 1080 hour requirement, but students will still be in school 180 days, according to Buffalo Superintendent Barry Nault. He noted that Buffalo also chose the hours because of the flexibility it provided for scheduling.
For the past few years Buffalo has scheduled an ample amount of snow days. If the eight snow days are not used, the school will be closed on Fridays beginning April 2 through the end of the school year. But the hours that students are in class each day has not increased, and for now things at Buffalo are staying the same.
Although, because of budget cuts, Nault said he is looking into making a permanent move to the four-day week for next school year.
“I have been checking with Kansas schools that have done it. Ashland saves almost $88,000 a year. They have pointed out some pretty intriguing options that schools can look at instead of cutting personnel,” Nault said.
A town-wide school board meeting was held in Buffalo last month to discuss the option of a four-day week.
“We got a lot of feedback from people. Many of them had questions about how it would affect test scores and how they would provide daycare. Right now there are a lot of unknowns,” Nault said.
The Superintendents at Sharon-Mutual, Buffalo and Mooreland said that many school activities such as FFA, FCCLA and spring sports will be held on Fridays, thus preventing students from missing class time.
Critics worry, however, about burdening working parents with extra child care costs, and question whether students, especially elementary children, can handle a longer school day without getting tired.
Sidders said junior high and high school periods were extended to have more time in each class. The extra time has been valuable especially in subjects like science lab and English, she said, noting “It gives them the extra time to complete an assignment.”
Elementary students at the school have been given an extra break during the day, and are given an additional snack in the afternoon.
Sidders said, “There were some reservations as to how the kids would do with the longer day, but they seem to have adapted pretty well.”
At this time, Sharon-Mutual is the most committed school in the area to the four-day week. Although, all the superintendents said only time will tell if the shorter week is beneficial.
Sidders said, “We are going to wait and see before we adopt the calendar for next year. We would like to see how it affects our test scores. Since the state department is talking about cutting our budget next year as well, we are definitely going to watch and see how it works out with savings and test scores.”
