Photos by KRISTIE MOSS / Scroll
Madison District officials say they are not planning to change the school week but will still have classes five days a week.

Some Idaho schools consider reducing school week

Ashley Killpack KIL05005@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

School districts across Idaho are opting to switch to a four-day school week instead of the traditional five.

Challis District in eastern Idaho and Orfino District in northwestern Idaho have been using this schedule for three years. Boundary County District in northern Idaho and Bear Lake District in southeastern Idaho switched to the new system last year and several other districts in south eastern Idaho such as Salmon, Soda Springs and Marsh Valley are changing over in September.

Most of these are small, rural districts and have made this change hoping to save money on heating, transportation and salaries for janitors and other staff.

Sate law regulates the number of hours students are required to be in school each year, but not the number of days. School districts are making up the lost day each week by adding the extra hours onto the other four school days.

This new fad has been growing outside of Idaho as well, mostly in the western states. Colorado, for example, has a four-day school week in 50 of its 178 districts, some of which have used the system for 25 years.

According to studies conducted by the Northwest Regional Education Laboratory, lots of advantages have been observed through the use of this new system, besides the money saved. Students seem to be more heavily involved in extracurricular activities, drop out rates decline and disciplinary referrals decrease.

Cameron Sanders, a sophomore from Irregon, Ore, was able to participate in a four-day school week system during the last half of his formal education.

“I think we learned just as much, but we had more time to apply what we learned,” Sanders said. “[In the five-day system] you’re just in school every day, every week and you don’t have time to use the things you’ve been taught.”

The study also indicated a number of benefits experienced by teachers in the system, for example, an increased amount of preparation time with the extra day off. Student-teacher time is believed to have increased in many cases and both staff and student absences decreased.