Four Day School Week Research Paper

Would you classify yourself as a “Monday-Hater”? A vast majority of students immensely detest Monday because it signifies the end of a relaxing weekend and the beginning of another stressful, busy week. However, if a four day school week was implemented then Monday could be tagged on to the weekend and everyone would become “Tuesday-Haters”. Woodbury High School (WHS) would benefit from a switch to a four day school week because it would save District 833 money, increase student attendance, and decrease the amount of stress in students. On the other hand, Critics believe that students should be spending more days in school rather than fewer. In fact, in the United States of America many states require school to be in session for a minimum of 180 days, which is almost three weeks less than other developed countries in Europe and Asia. For instance, China and Korea have more than 220 school days (Kingsbury). However, a four day school week will not reduce the time spent in school. It will redistribute the time going to school into four days instead of five days. Therefore the school days will be longer in a four day school week to encompass the correct amount of hours required.
Bus expenses eat up a sizable amount of the money. Webster County in Kentucky saved $300,000 in transportation, utility and insurance costs after switching seven schools to a four day week instead of closing one (Kingsbury). Also in Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, the schools switched to a four day and projected to save about $135,000 (Kingsbury). In addition cutting bus expenses, money will be saved on lunch meals and not paying staff on what would be the fifth day. Lastly, the money saved through switching to a four day school week could be used to fund new courses or extracurricular activities for