There is a controversial opinion sweeping across our nation regarding school days: should schools switch from five days a week to four days a week?
Over the past couple of years, there’s been an increase in schools switching to four day school weeks. In Missouri this past year, about 25% of school districts made the switch to a four-day week.
As this question is capturing the attention of many people, you may be wondering “why?” In Missouri, we are known to have one of the lowest paid salaries for teachers in the nation. Because of this, a teacher shortage has surfaced and as an attempt to stop this problem, many school districts have resulted in a 4/3 day week to give people one more day off.
A neighboring city, Warrenton, has switched to this schedule. The Warren County School District had an early jump on this, as this is their fourth year doing this schedule. Their school day starts at 7:45 a.m. and gets out at 3:15 p.m.
There are many controversial opinions on if people want this to happen. Many students think that if they cut down on the number of days we’re attending, the days we’re actually going to school will be substantially longer, to make up for the lost time. While they would need to lengthen the time we’re attending, it really isn’t too bad.
On a regular school day for the Wentzville School District, we are in school for 7 hours. Warrenton High School goes to school for 7 ½ hours. If we followed Warren County’s plan, we would only be in school for 30 more minutes everyday.
This could have some major improvements on student and teacher’s mental health. Switching to a 4/3 day split from a 5/2 day split is recorded to make kids happier, increase moral, and improve school climate. Not only would this switch be good for students, but it would also significantly benefit the teachers.
If we focus back on Warrenton, they had an undermining issue of underpaid teachers leaving the school district due to high stress levels and not getting paid enough. Warrenton couldn’t necessarily pay the teachers better because of costs, but instead, opted to give them one more day off. They couldn’t give them more money, but they can give them more time. This seems to be working, as they are in their fourth year of this.
A four-day week is not coming to Wentzville at this time. WSD Chief Communications Officer, Brynne Cramer, stated that “this is not a current consideration of the district.”
Even though nothing can change for this school year, it wouldn’t hurt for the Board of Education to entertain the idea of this for upcoming school years and weigh out the pros and cons.
Neighboring Districts Who Have Switched
- Crystal City 47 School District (Jefferson County)
- Grandview R-ll School District (Jefferson County)
- Sunrise R-lX School District (Jefferson County)
- Elsberry R-ll School District (Lincoln County)
- Warren Co. R-lll School District (Warren County)
