Many parents drop off and pick up children at school while other children travel to school by bus. A four-day school week would reduce busing costs, but could be an issue for parents needing to find childcare for an extra day. (Richard McGuire file photo)
As Osoyoos parents search for ways the school district can save enough money to keep local schools open, some are eyeing an idea from the district next door.
Since the 2001-02 school year, School District 51, Boundary, has been using a four-day school week to save money and reduce absenteeism.
Boundary isn’t the only district using this approach. School District 64, Gulf Islands, also adopted the four-day week in 2004-05 to reduce costs and keep schools open.
A smattering of other school districts across western Canada have also experimented with the four-day school week, but the idea is most widely used in the United States, especially in smaller, rural school districts where hundreds have adopted it.
Many districts eliminate a Friday or a Monday, though some eliminate a school day in the middle of the week so that children don’t have too long a continuous stretch away from their classes.
The remaining days are usually lengthened to make up for losing a day of instruction.
It’s not an idea that’s universally popular.
The Coast Mountain School District implemented a four-day week in 2003-04 to reduce costs, but a subsequent board reverted to the five-day week. They were pressured by parents concerned about childcare.
“I lived in School District 51 with my kids,” said Amy Robinson, president of the Osoyoos Elementary School parent advisory council (PAC). “They were part of it. So we’re fine with it. It does have a lot of benefits.”
Robinson said her daughter was in Kindergarten at the time the idea was proposed.
“My biggest thing was it’s a longer day for the little ones,” Robinson recalls. “They would still have to ride the bus and things like that. But you know what, they adjusted fine.”
Older children in communities like Rock Creek or Grand Forks were able to do part-time jobs on the extra day off school, she said. The towns adapted well.
Robinson said the change allowed the school district to keep smaller schools in Greenwood and Midway open, even though they have small enrolments. The change had a significant impact on budgets, she said.
In 2007, the Boundary school board commissioned a two-part study to look at the results in terms of academic achievement, financial data, absenteeism, and feedback from teachers and the community.
Despite some concerns in the community about daycare costs and impact on at-risk students, the review was generally positive.
Consultant Ev Surgenor found no discernable impact on academic achievement, but did find the model resulted in cost savings and reduced absenteeism, particularly of staff needing to take time off for personal appointments.
“Administrators believe that they have fewer student discipline and absentee issues to deal with,” wrote Surgenor. “They see the four-day school week as having a positive impact in these areas.”
The public consultations also found the change overall was positive.
“The community forums and feedback from teaching staff has, almost overwhelmingly, indicated that the four-day school week has been a positive experience,” said the report on phase two of the review. “There are reports of more time for extra-curricular activities, less stress, more time to digest what was covered in class, one less day on the bus (for those with long rides) and extra help provided by teachers on Fridays.”
The Osoyoos Times attempted to contact Kevin Argue, School District 51 superintendent, however he could not be reached before press time. Nonetheless, Argue was quoted in a CBC News story from September 2015.
“The district was on the edge of the abyss of having to look at closing schools and that was happening around the province at the time,” Argue told CBC. “The four-day week was what allowed us to carry on and we haven’t closed any schools since.”
Whether or not the financial savings of a four-day school week would be enough to save Osoyoos schools, even if adopted district wide, is another question.
The change makes no reduction to the number of teachers required and depending on the district, little or no reduction in support staff.
Transportation costs including fuel, maintenance and bus driver salaries are reduced. There may be some reduction in utilities, but these may not be significant, especially if schools stay open for tutoring or other activities on days when there are no lessons.
U.S. schools that offer free lunch programs have found savings there with one less school day.
A 2011 analysis in the U.S. by the Education Commission of the States found that school districts’ actual savings from a four-day week ranged from 0.4 to 2.5 per cent a year.
On the other hand, some school districts adopting the four-day week have found that they have better success in retaining teachers – especially if neighbouring districts are on the five-day week.
Teachers still work the same number of hours, but they like the flexibility the extra day gives them, whether for professional development, tutoring or personal matters.
Of course, the most important consideration in a discussion of the four-day school week is the impact it has on students.
A U.S. study released last summer looked at the impact of the four-day week on academic performance in Colorado elementary school students.
“Our results generally indicate a positive relationship between the four-day week and performance in reading and mathematics,” wrote authors D. Mark Anderson and Mary Beth Walker in the study published by the Association for Education Finance and Policy. “These findings suggest there is little evidence that moving to a four-day week compromises student academic achievement.”
The study found a significantly improved result in mathematics among Grade 5 students on the four-day week. The difference in reading scores was not statistically significant.
“What interested me about our results is they were completely opposite to what we anticipated,” said Walker, a researcher from Georgia State University in a news release.
“We thought that especially for the younger, elementary school kids, longer days on a shorter school week would hurt their academic performance because their attention spans are shorter. Also, a longer weekend would give them more opportunity to forget what they had learned,” she said, acknowledging that the study found the opposite.
So while the four-day week may not prove to be the financial panacea that some parents are hoping for, the experience at school districts that have tried it appears on balance to be positive.
Robinson, the Osoyoos Elementary PAC president, acknowledges that the main objection comes from parents concerned about daycare issues.
“If the town is willing to help and the community gets on board, then it’s not going to be a problem,” she said.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
