Four-Day School Week

Post Falls School District officials have been discussing transitioning their school week from five days to four days. 

If they do this, will Lakeland follow suit?

Currently, 78 of the 176 districts and charter schools in Idaho are on a four-day school week schedule. 

For the schools that do have four-day attendance, there has been “no noticeable change in student achievement, and many are reporting increased attendance for both students and staff,” said superintendent Dena Naccarato in a newsletter to Post Falls district parents and staff.

Mr. Gering, a science teacher at Lakeland, spent a lot of his career at a district with a four-day school week. He said it was nice because it allowed for a longer weekend. It also saved some money because there was one less day that custodians and bus drivers were needed. 

One less day of school allows students an extra day to themselves. Teachers and students would use this day differently depending on how it would best benefit them.

Mr. Gering said he would do things like hunting and snowmobiling. 

Student opinions on the subject vary.

“I would do my homework,” said Isadora Goad.

“I would use that extra day to study and practice for dance,” said Freshman Isabella Peterson. 

With an extra day of the weekend, students are allowed an extra day of studying and an extra day of rest or personal time.  

“Many students would probably be more excited when it comes to school because the week would be shorter, and they would have more to look forward to with the longer weekend,” said sophomore Tadhg Ellwood.

However, Gering said, despite all the pleasures of a four-day week. It was difficult because the three-day weekend sometimes set students back due to the longer time without reviewing the information they were covering in school. Also, the individual school days were longer. 

Peterson, who went to a school with four-day weeks, said she thinks it is nice to have an extra day of the weekend, but it is a bit stressful to cram more work into one day. She though the three-day weekend was nice, but she actually prefers attending school five days a week.

Five-day weeks are nice because it allows students to be released at 2:10 p.m. This provides students with time to do homework alongside their sports practices and games.

Peterson said that she would be willing to go an extra week during the school year but would prefer a five-day-per-week schedule.

Gering said from a personal standpoint, he prefers four-day school weeks, but from a professional standpoint, he prefers 5-day weeks. 

“I definitely think four-day weeks would be better,” said Ellwood.

If Lakeland were to transition to four-day weeks, the school would either have to lengthen individual school days or add an additional week to the end of the school year.

An e-mail was sent to the Lakeland Joint School District 272 school board members asking which option would be preferable for the district. However, board members did not respond by press time.