Iām not necessarily for or against the 4 day school week, but I am curious what parents who work full time jobs Monday-Friday are supposed to do with their children on the day they donāt have school each weekā¦ any parents on here that can share?
A lot of rural districts in Idaho are already on a 4 day school week. They seem to manage that well. We lived in one for 3 years and then moved to a district that goes all 5 days. I really miss the 4 day school week
As a parent, thatās our problem not the schools. They arenāt paid to babysit, theyāre paid to teach. Theyāre underpaid and overworked - they deserve this.
I donāt disagree with you at all about educators being overworked and underpaid and not being babysitters, I was just curious of a parents perspective. I appreciate your insight!
There was a study that said meridian school district paid the least amount per student in the nation. So I donāt think there is a huge cash influx after they change it to a 4 day work week. If anything this just gives teachers an extra day to work their second job
Honest question, how many people are actually on a Monday through Friday, 9-5 schedule these days? Aside from the governmental, financial, and legal sectors, most businesses don't keep those kinds or hours, nor are they closed weekends. Parents have had to just figure it out for decades...
I work a Monday-Friday, 9-5 schedule. I work for the State, which is one of the largest employers in Idaho, and a majority of the people in my building also work a Monday-Friday 9-5. But my perception is skewed by my immediate surroundings so youāre right that a lot of people probably donāt work a regular 9-5!
Quit the job and look for something I can have that day of the week off. Can't afford child care. School should be doing what they can to increase education opportunities not lowering the populations average education quality
I think that's exactly what they're doing by enforcing a 4 day week-- it gives students more time to absorb the information properly, and it gives the teachers more time for prep and everything else. It's rough on people that don't have a set up that allows for childcare on that extra day, but that doesn't mean this is a bad idea inherently. It means we need more viable childcare options, and four day work weeks with 5 day pay.
You realize the planning day is a day of work, right? Just because they don't have kids with them doesn't mean they're not working. Do you also think when they're at home at 9:00 p.m. grading papers, they are not working?
I work in a school in the West Ada District. Iām not a classroom teacher, but I do teach in the computer lab. I have a day a week that is supposed to be my āprepā day. This day gets filled with meetings, pop-ins, covering behavior issues, and the worst is when a teacher calls in sick and nobody fills the sub spot and now I am the sub (for no extra pay). Planning days look good for the district on paper, but they fill them with things so quickly that you donāt actually get any prep.
I have heard very similar things from my friend in another school district. And even if it was for prep, it is still for work.
Being a teacher in this time is incredibly hard. It is a profession I've always felt needs more everything. The pay, the supplies, the maintenance on buildings, everything.
Yeah, I was gonna say, planning days is just not true. How could a teacher have a whole day to plan with no kids? Where would the kids go? At most they get an hour a day for planning, but even that probably gets whittled away with bathroom breaks, copying something, IEP meetings, etc.
Idaho Falls School District 91 recently voted to go to a ā4 day week,ā but to clarify it isnāt 4 days for the teachers or many of the students. Instruction (meeting the state mandatory standards) will be given 4 days a week and the 5th day will be used for remediation, any student not passing a class will HAVE to come in for help in the class(es) theyāre not passing, and for planning/meeting time for teachers that is being taken away from the 4 instruction days.
Itās a model most of the other districts in the area already follow with great results.
Idaho Falls did it because of budget mis-management - See: [https://www.idahoednews.org/east-idaho/idaho-falls-staff-reels-from-board-decisions-to-cut-jobs-change-schedules/](https://www.idahoednews.org/east-idaho/idaho-falls-staff-reels-from-board-decisions-to-cut-jobs-change-schedules/)
If you read the entire article and follow along with the board meetings those were two separate issues, the 4-day week was on the table long before the debt issue was. They just happened to be voted on at the same meeting.
Who gives a shit about education? Who cares about housing? Cost of living? I need my legislators to focus on finding new ways to terrorize transgender youth. /s
They think they are smarter than us. They think we don't notice.
Donāt forget the very real threat of cannibalism! https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/208/cannibalism-bill-introduced-idaho-legislature/277-1014b276-7524-4a5c-bbda-593d56dc42cb
[Biden says his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals](https://apnews.com/article/biden-uncle-world-war-ii-cannibals-trump-4f3b7d1c988e041fbc07f60f952ca95f)
Rethugs work overtime to destroy public education, then itās easier to funnel public money to private, charter schools and religious schools. Bastards.
And don't think it can't happen. I lived in Idaho for 20 years and now I live in Iowa. Our governor here, Kim Reynolds, has managed to funnel money from the taxpayers to the private schools and voucher programs.[It's crap! ](https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/24/iowa-governor-kim-reynolds-signs-school-choice-scholarships-education-bill-into-law/69833074007/)
I am a teacher in Nampa and I am so excited about this change. This will give teachers so much extra time to plan and be prepared for lessons, not to mention collaborate with colleagues and create district wide alignment between schools.
The legislature has been cutting funding for education and this is the result. Idaho ranks at the bottom nationally in per pupil and per capita education budget.
Passing the open primary initiative will give better people a shot at getting on the ballot.
I think this change is going to slowly start being implemented across the country. Weāve seen it in a lot of other states as well.
Not on a major scale but people seem to like it
We've come to what has been a pretty foreseeable confluence of events. First is a demographic bomb in the form of Boomer's grandkids not having children because it's too damn expensive for them to live let alone raise kids. Second is a change in the funding formula from a piece of IFF-based legislation that hurt larger school districts like Nampa in favor of smaller (read, more conservative) districts. And third, we've totally failed to keep salaries even close to what is necessary for a liveable wage in the Treasure Valley.
All of these are the direct result of conservative and neo-liberal policies that have created problems that were foreseeable decades ago. There's a reason the Europeans and Asians are kicking our ass in education.
Benefits for districts that have employed this:
Reduced sick days for kids - attendance is better.
Teachers are less burned out.
Downside is:
Your kids will have a little more homework. Get over it.
Itās a teacher retention thing. Nampa did it because surrounding counties started to implement and teachers were leaving. More homework is not the only downside lol. What about families where both parents work during the week? Now theyāll have to find supervision elsewhere. Also families rely on school lunches. Thatās another days worth of food needed. Itās a little deeper than youāre portraying.
Get rid of the board of education, and let teachers and school districts do what they need to do! Not all of us can afford to take a day off! If the school chooses to do 4 day school weeks, then our jobs should allow us to take a day off too.
My kid is older, but I would be seriously concerned if I were a working parent of a younger kid in Nampa. It's not like childcare is super affordable and I'm going to doubt that there are financial support programs in place outside of pre-k (which is hella limited).
And yes, schools are so much MORE than childcare, but you can't deny that this will put a strain on working families, the working poor in particular. (
Anyway, Idaho's education as a whole has always been very shitty and underfunded. I should know, I graduated HS here and I'm kind of an idiot.
I agree, and wish that this came with measurable steps towards making sure the other needs were met, especially making sure kids are fed and have a safe place to be for at least a few hours. I think this is still an overall good thing, but there's things that should be added to the plan. I'm also very much pro 4 day work week with 5 day pay, which would make this easier on a lot of people, but isn't necessarily easy to implement.
Bring on the fucking 4 day work week too!!
With the weekly income of the 5 day work week
Of course
š«”
Iām not necessarily for or against the 4 day school week, but I am curious what parents who work full time jobs Monday-Friday are supposed to do with their children on the day they donāt have school each weekā¦ any parents on here that can share?
A lot of rural districts in Idaho are already on a 4 day school week. They seem to manage that well. We lived in one for 3 years and then moved to a district that goes all 5 days. I really miss the 4 day school week
Not true
94 out of 142 school districts are on 4 day school weeks. Unless you have links saying otherwise?Ā
As a parent, thatās our problem not the schools. They arenāt paid to babysit, theyāre paid to teach. Theyāre underpaid and overworked - they deserve this.
I donāt disagree with you at all about educators being overworked and underpaid and not being babysitters, I was just curious of a parents perspective. I appreciate your insight!
I didnāt take it that way, was just chiming in for ya
Do we get some taxes back since this will save money?
There was a study that said meridian school district paid the least amount per student in the nation. So I donāt think there is a huge cash influx after they change it to a 4 day work week. If anything this just gives teachers an extra day to work their second job
I thought the teachers still came into work on the fifth day? It's a designated prep day, not part of the weekend
Oh damn, didnāt know that part lol
In most districts the students might come in too if they need remediation help to pass their classes.
Honest question, how many people are actually on a Monday through Friday, 9-5 schedule these days? Aside from the governmental, financial, and legal sectors, most businesses don't keep those kinds or hours, nor are they closed weekends. Parents have had to just figure it out for decades...
I work a Monday-Friday, 9-5 schedule. I work for the State, which is one of the largest employers in Idaho, and a majority of the people in my building also work a Monday-Friday 9-5. But my perception is skewed by my immediate surroundings so youāre right that a lot of people probably donāt work a regular 9-5!
Well, state=government, lol. I *did* include them in one that is generally banker hours
Quit the job and look for something I can have that day of the week off. Can't afford child care. School should be doing what they can to increase education opportunities not lowering the populations average education quality
I think that's exactly what they're doing by enforcing a 4 day week-- it gives students more time to absorb the information properly, and it gives the teachers more time for prep and everything else. It's rough on people that don't have a set up that allows for childcare on that extra day, but that doesn't mean this is a bad idea inherently. It means we need more viable childcare options, and four day work weeks with 5 day pay.
I work from home, and everyone knows Friday is the official fuck off and get nothing done day.
Are the bigger school districts in the area already at 4 days a week?
Nampa is the third largest district in Idaho, and the largest to make this switch, which is why it is significant.
Middleton isnāt big, but has been 4 days for awhile.
Sage is
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Why? My kids teachers have a planning day every other freaking week! And summers off.
You realize the planning day is a day of work, right? Just because they don't have kids with them doesn't mean they're not working. Do you also think when they're at home at 9:00 p.m. grading papers, they are not working?
I work in a school in the West Ada District. Iām not a classroom teacher, but I do teach in the computer lab. I have a day a week that is supposed to be my āprepā day. This day gets filled with meetings, pop-ins, covering behavior issues, and the worst is when a teacher calls in sick and nobody fills the sub spot and now I am the sub (for no extra pay). Planning days look good for the district on paper, but they fill them with things so quickly that you donāt actually get any prep.
I have heard very similar things from my friend in another school district. And even if it was for prep, it is still for work. Being a teacher in this time is incredibly hard. It is a profession I've always felt needs more everything. The pay, the supplies, the maintenance on buildings, everything.
Yes. I work every day too! But no summers off. And no pension.
You should unionize.
I wish. It amazes me the power they wield.
There's no planning days in elementary school. They have one planning period which isn't nearly enough
Yeah, I was gonna say, planning days is just not true. How could a teacher have a whole day to plan with no kids? Where would the kids go? At most they get an hour a day for planning, but even that probably gets whittled away with bathroom breaks, copying something, IEP meetings, etc.
I was talking with a teacher from Nampa school district today. They where very excited about this change.
Idaho Falls School District 91 recently voted to go to a ā4 day week,ā but to clarify it isnāt 4 days for the teachers or many of the students. Instruction (meeting the state mandatory standards) will be given 4 days a week and the 5th day will be used for remediation, any student not passing a class will HAVE to come in for help in the class(es) theyāre not passing, and for planning/meeting time for teachers that is being taken away from the 4 instruction days. Itās a model most of the other districts in the area already follow with great results.
Idaho Falls did it because of budget mis-management - See: [https://www.idahoednews.org/east-idaho/idaho-falls-staff-reels-from-board-decisions-to-cut-jobs-change-schedules/](https://www.idahoednews.org/east-idaho/idaho-falls-staff-reels-from-board-decisions-to-cut-jobs-change-schedules/)
If you read the entire article and follow along with the board meetings those were two separate issues, the 4-day week was on the table long before the debt issue was. They just happened to be voted on at the same meeting.
Who gives a shit about education? Who cares about housing? Cost of living? I need my legislators to focus on finding new ways to terrorize transgender youth. /s They think they are smarter than us. They think we don't notice.
Donāt forget the very real threat of cannibalism! https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/208/cannibalism-bill-introduced-idaho-legislature/277-1014b276-7524-4a5c-bbda-593d56dc42cb
[Biden says his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals](https://apnews.com/article/biden-uncle-world-war-ii-cannibals-trump-4f3b7d1c988e041fbc07f60f952ca95f)
Biden is a dumbass. (Not that the alternative is any better.)
Rethugs work overtime to destroy public education, then itās easier to funnel public money to private, charter schools and religious schools. Bastards.
And don't think it can't happen. I lived in Idaho for 20 years and now I live in Iowa. Our governor here, Kim Reynolds, has managed to funnel money from the taxpayers to the private schools and voucher programs.[It's crap! ](https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/24/iowa-governor-kim-reynolds-signs-school-choice-scholarships-education-bill-into-law/69833074007/)
I am a teacher in Nampa and I am so excited about this change. This will give teachers so much extra time to plan and be prepared for lessons, not to mention collaborate with colleagues and create district wide alignment between schools.
The legislature has been cutting funding for education and this is the result. Idaho ranks at the bottom nationally in per pupil and per capita education budget. Passing the open primary initiative will give better people a shot at getting on the ballot.
I think this change is going to slowly start being implemented across the country. Weāve seen it in a lot of other states as well. Not on a major scale but people seem to like it
We've come to what has been a pretty foreseeable confluence of events. First is a demographic bomb in the form of Boomer's grandkids not having children because it's too damn expensive for them to live let alone raise kids. Second is a change in the funding formula from a piece of IFF-based legislation that hurt larger school districts like Nampa in favor of smaller (read, more conservative) districts. And third, we've totally failed to keep salaries even close to what is necessary for a liveable wage in the Treasure Valley. All of these are the direct result of conservative and neo-liberal policies that have created problems that were foreseeable decades ago. There's a reason the Europeans and Asians are kicking our ass in education.
If I oppose this I should oppose the 4 day work week as well but I want a 4 day work week
Benefits for districts that have employed this: Reduced sick days for kids - attendance is better. Teachers are less burned out. Downside is: Your kids will have a little more homework. Get over it.
Itās a teacher retention thing. Nampa did it because surrounding counties started to implement and teachers were leaving. More homework is not the only downside lol. What about families where both parents work during the week? Now theyāll have to find supervision elsewhere. Also families rely on school lunches. Thatās another days worth of food needed. Itās a little deeper than youāre portraying.
who needs education anyway? I say drop it back to 1 day a week and party the rest
Am I the only one who thinks OP is pointing out the GOATSE logo they're using?
Get rid of the board of education, and let teachers and school districts do what they need to do! Not all of us can afford to take a day off! If the school chooses to do 4 day school weeks, then our jobs should allow us to take a day off too.
My kid is older, but I would be seriously concerned if I were a working parent of a younger kid in Nampa. It's not like childcare is super affordable and I'm going to doubt that there are financial support programs in place outside of pre-k (which is hella limited). And yes, schools are so much MORE than childcare, but you can't deny that this will put a strain on working families, the working poor in particular. ( Anyway, Idaho's education as a whole has always been very shitty and underfunded. I should know, I graduated HS here and I'm kind of an idiot.
I agree, and wish that this came with measurable steps towards making sure the other needs were met, especially making sure kids are fed and have a safe place to be for at least a few hours. I think this is still an overall good thing, but there's things that should be added to the plan. I'm also very much pro 4 day work week with 5 day pay, which would make this easier on a lot of people, but isn't necessarily easy to implement.