Jan. 21, 2024
By Aiden Nguyen
Staff Writer
Around 900 U.S. school districts, which make up about 7% of all districts in the nation, have shortened their school week to four days, according to National Public Radio.
This is due to a national teacher shortage that is so severe it has left schools with few options. The districts hope more teachers will consider entering the profession if the workweek is shortened but salaries remain the same.
English teacher Dr. DiMaggio said a shorter school week would benefit teachers by giving them a chance to catch up on work.
“With an extra day off, teachers would have time to keep up with the ever-increasing amount of paperwork and grading they are tasked with,” DiMaggio said.
She said if Lyndhurst ever adopted a four-day school week, she would have to change her pacing.
“I would slightly increase the workload for students to bolster instruction since they [would] lose a day in school,” DiMaggio said.
She said a shorter school week could help students socially.
“This day away from the classroom could mean opportunities for students to explore their own interests and extracurricular activities, allowing students to find peers with [whom] they share commonalities,” DiMaggio said.
According to Curriculum Management Solutions, Inc., which audits and evaluates school curricula, students who have four-day school weeks have fallen behind academically compared to their peers who have five-day school weeks.
Despite these findings, sophomore Habiba Abdelgalil said she would benefit from a shorter school week.
“Since I do a lot of sports, I find it very hard to find time to study or prepare for upcoming tests,” Abdelgalil said.
She said having a four-day school week would give her more time to do her schoolwork and socialize at events like birthday parties and friends’ sports games.
“Whenever my friends have an event that I’m supposed to attend for them, most of the time I have to decline,” Abdelgalil said. “Since I wouldn’t be so busy, I would definitely attend them.”
Abdelgalil said some students might struggle to get used to a four-day school week.
“All their lives, they have been used to going to school five days a week,” Abdelgalil said.
She said the quality of their sleep could suffer due to an inconsistent sleep schedule that would likely develop because of the extra day off from school.
“My sleep schedule would be destroyed,” Abdelgalil said.
“Since I do a lot of sports, I find it very hard to find time to study or prepare for upcoming tests.”
Freshman Matthew Flores said a four-day school week could be problematic in the long term.
“Over time, there [are] definitely going to be people who are going to want it to be three school days instead,” Flores said.
Despite this concern, Flores said he would like to have a four-day school week.
“A four-day school week would positively impact my learning,” Flores said. “Normally two-day weekends are not enough for me to relax.”
He said a shorter school week would help students cope with the stress of school.
“A simple extra day off could really help students recharge their mind,” said Flores.
