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So, were specifically working parents engaged before the Pennsylvania Legislature and Gov. Josh Shapiro decided to allow public school districts to switch to a four-day school week if they so choose?
We can't really tell by the reports coming out of Harrisburg.
And did anyone research the analysis that said students earn lower math and reading scores on standardized tests after their schools switch to a four-day schedule?
Isn't it true that student test scores are on the downturn?
Further, those who support this mess say it will "save money and help recruit teachers."
Well now wait a minute, aren't we supposed to be PRIMARILY concerned about student learning?
We understand "flexibility," but frankly we're talking elementary, middle and high school students here who need regiment... regiment that is good for their lives and that of their parents to teach responsibility and discipline.
Good parents will tell you that.
There already is enough flexibility (or at least there should be) built into schedules. Take, for example, career and technical or vo-tech students: They are granted time away from the classroom to work/learn on the job at local employers. It's called a co-op program and it works very well.
We should not be making it easier for students... and we believe that's just what a four-day week would do.
Less time in the classroom means less learning.
More time in front of a computer? It can be argued that that is not conducive to learning.
Remember the coronavirus and the results of the "virtual" learning that took place?
And a four-day school week now has some parents saying that schedule should then extend to their own work to accommodate them.
Here's what a parent (Leta Scott) who spoke to the Associated Press said after Gov. Shapiro signed the bill recently: "Making it flexible so that families can have the time to spend with each other would be beneficial, but if we are going to do it for schools, we need to do it for work as well because a lot of parents have 9-to-5s and they have strict schedules. So, to be able to accommodate the school schedule being different it would have to be different all the way around so we could actually have that time with our kids."
Uh oh.
Less work means less learning means less productivity.
No, we don't agree a four-day school week would bring more "advantages."
"Successful people are not gifted; they just work hard, then succeed on purpose."