I saw this article a few days ago, but (since this is finals week) haven’t had much chance to blog. It’s about schools trying to cut expenses by going to a four-day week:
Cutting out one day of school has been the key to preserving educational programs and staff in parts of Kentucky, New Mexico and Minnesota, outweighing some parents’ concerns about finding day-care for the day off.
One school district saved $65,000 in transportation costs alone. (Average annual teacher saqlary is under $50,000.) And there’s additional energy to be saved by turning stuff off in the unused buildings on Fridays.
The article’s about K-12 schools, and there’s a legitimate argument against moving to a four day week there: What about parents who have to work five days a week and who suddenly have to find – and pay for – child care for their kids on Friday? This isn’t an unsolvable problem (as the article notes), but there is a better place for a four day school week: community colleges.
The typical community college student drives to class each day – sometimes a hour each way. That’s a lot of driving time for classes that meet 5 days a week. With the advent of $4 per gallon gas, it’s also expensive. Not to the school itself, but to the students – who already have to put up with soaring textbook prices and rising tuition.
My college seems to be ready to experiment with the four-day week, although it remains to be seen if they’ll want faculty members and staff to come out to the campus to sit behind a desk on Fridays.
Students already love the four-day week idea. Who wants to be in class on Friday, anyway? 🙂