4 day school weeks?

[someoverkill]

there are here.

[orange-n-brown 365]

I would much rather see a 4 day school week than have the schools place a bunch of levy's on the ballot, just to have the voted against then cutting bus routes.

I know if they cut bus routes here a lot of kids to include mine would have to be home schooled.

homeschooling is fun but interesting.. but you know what I think they learn much more.. cause when you home school them you don't have to teach them how to take test.. they learn Ohio History which our schools don't have anymore.. and field trips well not as many with the price of gas but you know.. maybe that's what we all need to do...

[osumufan]

I would rather see a M,T, TH, F and be off every wednesday. Schools could tell parents to schedule all dr appt.'s on Wed and field trips could be taken on wed as well so that kids arent missing classtime.

[Rhiannon]

thats right, bus drivers are paid salary, but they are not going to get paid the same for 4 days work as they were 5........school boards if they do this , are doing it to save money.... bus driver salaries would unfortunately be some of the first cut.... then cooks and custodians....... but thats the way in our society, the ones that are struggling get the shaft first....... God bless those hard workin' people.....And, I agree, pay to play is quickly coming our way.........

Why would their salaries be cut but not the teachers? As a teacher I am on a salary just likethey are, so my salary then would have to be cut since I would not be working the full 181 days like the contract says. So are you trying to say all of us would be taking a cut if we go to the 4 day week?

[orange-n-brown 365]

thats right, bus drivers are paid salary, but they are not going to get paid the same for 4 days work as they were 5........school boards if they do this , are doing it to save money.... bus driver salaries would unfortunately be some of the first cut.... then cooks and custodians....... but thats the way in our society, the ones that are struggling get the shaft first....... God bless those hard workin' people.....And, I agree, pay to play is quickly coming our way.........

Why would their salaries be cut but not the teachers? As a teacher I am on a salary just likethey are, so my salary then would have to be cut since I would not be working the full 181 days like the contract says. So are you trying to say all of us would be taking a cut if we go to the 4 day week?

why yes don't you know you teachers are lazy and don't care about the kids?
I don't want to see anyone get a pay cut or a lose a job I think there are ways around that!

[mstangmom]

thats right, bus drivers are paid salary, but they are not going to get paid the same for 4 days work as they were 5........school boards if they do this , are doing it to save money.... bus driver salaries would unfortunately be some of the first cut.... then cooks and custodians....... but thats the way in our society, the ones that are struggling get the shaft first....... God bless those hard workin' people.....And, I agree, pay to play is quickly coming our way.........

Why would their salaries be cut but not the teachers? As a teacher I am on a salary just likethey are, so my salary then would have to be cut since I would not be working the full 181 days like the contract says. So are you trying to say all of us would be taking a cut if we go to the 4 day week?

I think what it comes down to is Teachers would still be working the same amount of hours by extending the school day 1 or 2 hours, which would be like 181 days. whereas bus drivers would not be working the same amount of hours because they would only be driving 4 days a week. same with the food service and such and other positions like that.

[The Instructor]

A four day school week will never happen.

You can bet on it.

[Rhiannon]

thats right, bus drivers are paid salary, but they are not going to get paid the same for 4 days work as they were 5........school boards if they do this , are doing it to save money.... bus driver salaries would unfortunately be some of the first cut.... then cooks and custodians....... but thats the way in our society, the ones that are struggling get the shaft first....... God bless those hard workin' people.....And, I agree, pay to play is quickly coming our way.........

Why would their salaries be cut but not the teachers? As a teacher I am on a salary just likethey are, so my salary then would have to be cut since I would not be working the full 181 days like the contract says. So are you trying to say all of us would be taking a cut if we go to the 4 day week?

why yes don't you know you teachers are lazy and don't care about the kids?
I don't want to see anyone get a pay cut or a lose a job I think there are ways around that!

I agree I do not want to see anyone regardless of whether or not they drive a bus, cook, clean up after the kids, or teach them to have to take a pay cut. It takes all of us working together to make things work. Trust me, it pays to be in with the cooks, custodians, and bus drivers. They can really help you when you need it.

Instructor, I think you are right. 4 day school week will never happen. If it does I will be shocked. But if I had a vote, I would like to work Monday-Thursday, with Fridays off. Then everyone now and then we would get that even longer weekend when a holiday fell on Monday

[The Instructor]

Trust me, it pays to be in with the cooks, custodians, and bus drivers. They can really help you when you need it.

Amen to that one Sister!!

[ballparent]

Trust me, it pays to be in with the cooks, custodians, and bus drivers. They can really help you when you need it.

Amen to that one Sister!!

I think that is one thing that we all agree on.

[abuck76]

mstangmom is right...teachers would still be working the same hours.....Bus drivers and cooks would not......they would be cut 20%..... And I wouldn't be so sure that you won't see 4 day weeks....It would also cut down on Sub pay for teachers........Electricity cut...water cut............food costs cut...........why would a school NOT want a four day week?..........................

[The Instructor]

It wouldn't cut down on heating/cooling our buildings because we have some employees who are 12 month employees.

The buildings have to be heated/cooled for them.

[Orange and Brown]

I know around here alot of support staff within the school district work second jobs any way so going to a four day week wouldn't be the end of the world.

[2trap_4ever]

Are you going to skip Mondays or Fridays? There are several Federal Holidays which have been changed to a specific Monday rather than a specific date. Schools are already "losing" those days - why not skip all of them?
Friday is tradititional athletic night [both football and basketball], and doesn't OHSAA have some rules about a player attending school on the day of a game? But I have a feeling Friday would be the more popular choice.
My kids are long out of school, but a longer school day and fewer of them would have suited me fine.
As well as gasoline, wouldn't this also save on lunch costs and heating costs?
Another thought - wouldn't it be a built-in way to make up snow/calamity days without extending the school year?

I say friday's, but thats the football player coming out in me, give friday's that way in the fall the football players can rest and get themselves mentally prepared for the game.

[Antony]

It's pathetic how we are so dependent on gas. Shows how weak our society is.

[caglewis]

What's even MORE "pathetic" is that we went through a wake-up-call "gasoline scare" back in the early '70's, and everyone, Democrats and Republicans alike have made campaign promises to promote "energy independence" ever since.
Yet here we are 30-35 years later - no progress made, oil prices hugely higher, Detroit still building bigger cars; and we're in much worse shape, and even more oil-dependent than we were then. Except, now, other countries are gaining on us in their demands for this limited resource; and we're paying for a war to boot - adding additional strains and demands! We'll ALL pay this price in both dollars and "priorities", and loss of "previously expected" services for many years to come!

[orange-n-brown 365]

What's even MORE "pathetic" is that we went through a wake-up-call "gasoline scare" back in the early '70's, and everyone, Democrats and Republicans alike have made campaign promises to promote "energy independence" ever since.
Yet here we are 30-35 years later - no progress made, oil prices hugely higher, Detroit still building bigger cars; and we're in much worse shape, and even more oil-dependent than we were then. Except, now, other countries are gaining on us in their demands for this limited resource; and we're paying for a war to boot - adding additional strains and demands! We'll ALL pay this price in both dollars and "priorities", and loss of "previously expected" services for many years to come!

good post

[ballparent]

Workers shifting to 4-day week to save gasoline
By Andrea Hopkins
Thu May 29, 4:07 PM ET

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - When Ohio's Kent State University offered custodial staff the option of working four days a week instead of five to cut commuting costs, most jumped at the chance, part of a U.S. trend aimed at combating soaring gasoline prices.

"We offered it to 94 employees and 78 have taken us up on it," said university spokesman Scott Rainone.

The reason is simple: rising gas prices and a desire to retain good workers. And while so far only the university's custodians are eligible, Rainone hopes the option will be offered to all departments -- including his own.

"In our office, we have people who travel anywhere from five or six miles to a couple who are on the road 45 to 50 minutes," Rainone said. "As the price of gas rises, the level of grumbling rises."

Regular gasoline averages $3.94 a gallon in the United States, up 33 cents in the past month and 88 cents since the beginning of the year, the Energy Information Administration said this week.

The federal government has offered four-day workweeks to eligible employees for years as part of a flexible work program that also includes telecommuting.

But the surge in gasoline prices is pushing more private employers as well as local governments to offer a four-day week as a perk that eliminates two commutes a week.

Staff at Neighborhood Development Services in rural northeastern Ohio were talking about quitting to find work closer to their homes when executive director Dave Vaughan stepped in with offers to compress their work week.

"I didn't want to lose people," Vaughan said of the program, which more than half of his 19 employees began last week. "In rural areas like we are, gas price increases are more challenging because we don't have the mass transit alternative -- we can't jump on a bus or take a train."

Eventually, Vaughan hopes to close the office one day a week, further reducing energy costs.

In America's struggling automaking heartland, the shorter workweek offers employers a way of rewarding employees when the budget does not allow a salary increase, said Oakland County, Michigan, executive L. Brooks Patterson.

"By allowing employees to work four 10-hour days it will save them 20 percent on their commute costs and ease the financial pinch of filling up their cars," said Patterson, who last week proposed the compressed week for county workers.

Gasoline prices have begun altering U.S. commutes in many ways, a survey released on Thursday showed.

CHANGING HABITS

Some 44 percent of respondents said they have changed the way they commute -- doing things such as sharing a ride or driving a more fuel-efficient car -- or are working from home or looking for a closer job in order to reduce gasoline costs, according to staffing services company Robert Half International. That's up from 34 percent two years ago.

On New York's Long Island, Suffolk County legislator Wayne Horsley also has proposed employees have the option of working four 10-hour shifts, rather than five eight-hour shifts, saying it would save 461 barrels of oil in a 120-day pilot project.

"This is a gasoline-driven proposition and we're looking to change people's long term philosophies of life," Horsley said.

The program, termed Operation Sunshine, will cut gasoline costs for workers who drive an average round trip of 32 miles to work. It also aims to cut the county's energy bill by having fewer employees in the office at a time, Horsley said.

In Oklahoma, a resolution is pending before the state legislature encouraging state agencies to implement flexible work schedules that would allow the four-day workweek.

"State employees are on fixed budgets and they are not usually the most highly paid in our society," said State Sen. Earl Garrison, a Democrat, who sponsored the measure.

Some schools, including community colleges in rural areas where commutes are long and public transportation is scarce, already have plans to drop a day of classes, usually Fridays.

The school district in Marietta, Georgia, a city north of Atlanta, institutes a four-day week during June and July when schools are out and it is mostly administrative staff who are working, saving on air conditioning and water in addition to commuting costs for employees, said Thomas Algarin, director of communications at Marietta City Schools.

But a four-day workweek brings problems too. The state government in Ohio is bucking the national trend and canceling an 8-year-old policy that allowed a compressed workweek.

"There were just too many vacant seats on Friday," said Ron Sylvester, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services.

[brutally honest]

would rather see a M,T, TH, F and be off every wednesday. Schools could tell parents to schedule all dr appt.'s on Wed and field trips could be taken on wed as well so that kids arent missing classtime.

I think a four day week could be beneficial but the field trip ideas are not logical. If you are going to give students and teachers another day off to save gas and money, why take that day to travel(gas) and have teachers work on their day off? That is a bit contradictory and irrational. You say it is to save class time to still have regular class but as far as I know, field trips usually have something to do with education and are counted as normal days of school. Also, how can a school demand that you have a doctor's appointment on a certain day? If you get sick on a day that you have school you shouldn't have to wait until you don't have school to see a doctor.

[JHS4EVER]

THE STATE OF OHIO SHOULD DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!