Results show positive outcomes from four-day school week
The Littlefork-Falls School Board listened with interest as Superintendent Fred Seybert reviewed with them Wednesday a power-point presentation regarding research on a four-day school week.
The board held its regular meeting in Big Falls.
The research comes from the MACCRAY school district in west-central Minnesota, the only district in the state approved by the Minnesota Department of Education to implement the shortened academic week, to begin in the 2008-2009 school year.
Research obtained through MACCRAY shows predominantly positive outcomes as a result of removing Monday from the school attendance week. Schools that have implemented an academic week which runs Tuesday through Friday have reported the following:
• Improved attendance.
• More efficient use of budget.
• Decreased discipline referrals.
• Increased enrollments.
A reported major negative consequence of a four-day week was the issue of child care on Mondays when parents must work, according to Seybert. But the research he presented showed that this issue was quickly resolved and was outweighed by the positive aspects.
Seybert said a lot of discussion will be needed with L-BF certified and non-certified staff as well as with parents and the community. The earliest date possible for an L-BF adoption of the change would be for the 2009-2010 school year, but Seybert stressed that significantly more research would be conducted by the board and superintendent at this early stage.
Students at L-BF will find a new school store in the coming year. The store will be operated by members of the National Honor Society under the advisement of Peter Kowitz, musical instructor at the school. Original plans included support by the Parent Teacher Organization, but auditors have informed the school that the non-profit PTO cannot be involved in management or fiscal responsibilities, said Seybert. Spirit wear, supplies, and items promoting the Viking mascot and school pride will be available. Profits will go to the NHS.
The board accepted the resignation of half-time social studies teacher Jeff Raboin. Seybert said a long-term substitute will be assigned to fill the interim period. Also accepted was the resignation of Teresa Rom, cheerleading advisor. Amos McKenzie was approved as the new assistant boys basketball coach.
Truth in Taxation dates were set for Dec. 1, with a tentative continuation date set at Dec. 8.
The superintendent reports that according to the state education department and the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment scores, L-BF is making adequate yearly progress. Seybert said the board attributes this continued improvement to the L-BF staff.
Seybert said he informed the board that 160 newly purchased computers have been set up and programmed in the K-12 computer lab. He also reported that three new security cameras have been installed: in the school’s commons, junior high hallway and the old gym locker room hallway.
The second installment of carpet in the school, scheduled to be done in thirds, was accomplished recently with the final installment planned for next year, Seybert said. Concrete was replaced at the west main entrance of L-BF and outside, near the elementary office. A new concession stand slab was poured, as part of a larger outdoor project, according to Seybert.
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So let me get this one in...
Back to page topSo let me get this one in focus: Minnesota schools are leaving their children behind in increasing numbers SO the solution is to reduce the number of days they do homework and attend classes. Combine that with a four-course block system and we will be getting students at my college who have dabbled a bit at education, but not in any serious sort of way.
Who wins in a four day school district? Slackers of all sorts -- teachers who will start their three day weekend each Thursday at 4:00 -- students who will have one less reason to get up early -- administrators who have always agreed on one point: it would be a great job if we could just get rid of the students.
For anyone who cares -- and I suspect fewer do -- our major competitors in the global economy go to school six days a week; I remember how happy my son was in Italy when he got out early -- noon -- on Saturdays. He and his amici celebrated by ordering French Fries with mayonnaise and walking around town like big shots.
As a competitive move, it will make sense for Littlefork to go the slacker route. They will find more students from I Falls willing to invest eight gallons of gas and a mere four days each week to school. And think of the added gaming time!
TLJ, Wow!! I have never...
Back to page topTLJ,
Wow!! I have never agreed more with your comments!! If it wasn't so late, I would love to embellish your great summary of the Minnesota school system's poor thought process. Good job.
That seems really clear to...
Back to page topThat seems really clear to me. I was just wondering a bit however, if only having to go to school for four days a week is good for you and your future, then it seems to me that taking it one step further and only going to school for three days a week would be even better. I mean, then the teachers and school staff would have four days off and three days of work and would be doing two days less work for the same amount of pay and I am sure they will like all that very much. On the other hand, the students will also have two days less work to do and will also have only a three day school week to contend with and thus will be getting less information to clutter up their minds with. This should be better for all concerned as the guys trying to teach the college level courses are the ones making the big bucks and are the ones that should be responsible for teaching our kids reading, writing and arithmatic in the first place, not our elementary, middle and high schools. Besides, mom and dad don't know where their kids are now on Saturday and Sunday as they are not on the non-existent third street and 11th street playgrounds nor are they at church so not knowing where or what their kids are doing for these additional two days should not be any more of a problem then it is now.
Everybody is happy with this "new" idea. I think I will call this new plan of educating our children, The New Education System". Before long we will eventially be able to go to a zero days of school week and our children will be so educated and smart they will not even have to go to work to support themselves as they will just vote to have the government feed them and heat their homes in the winter. You know, kinda like some wanted our government to do last winter.
We must not let this new idea in education conflict with our pre-school ideas however. In fact I think we could and should go to a pre, pre, pre-school system. What better way to offer our children baby sitting services paid for by the local government and calling it school, can you possibly come up with. After all, what parent wants to raise any children after they are three years old, anyway! Those darn kids are just a bother in the first place. And after they are 6 years old just let them raise themselves, after all who knows more about raising kids then the kids themselves. Give them all a place where they can hang out for 24/7 and they will eventually come up with a much better system of running things then the system we were raised up with... and they will eventually vote themselves the system they want. After all, where do you thing the current School Superintendant , and the school board comes up with all these great ideas??
Anton, Thanks for that...
Back to page topAnton,
Thanks for that entry. Saved me alot of time [took the words out of my mouth]!!!! Now if I could just convince you and TLJ to vote for the McCain/Romney ticket in November, everything would be "jam up/jelly tight"!!
I remember someone in the...
Back to page topI remember someone in the past, perhaps it was one of those phantom senior memories, extolling the virtues of Joe Biden. I was surprised to agree with this individual, real or imagined, so I was pleased to have Barack line himself up with Joe Biden. Not only that, they are proposing to make the presidency a four day work-week also with the Veep performing all presidential tasks after four pm on Thursdays. This would allow Barack to find a new church community in the Capitol and would allow JB to do all of the foreign affairs work on the weekends. Will the real roj2000 please stand up, please stand up?
TLJ, Aren't we witty...
Back to page topTLJ,
Aren't we witty today?? First of all, I have not said that I'm against Joe Biden in Nov, but I'm still for McCain/Romney. I did say in the past that I would vote for Biden for President, but not, if he was taking on a "****** Cheney role"!! My God, I thought GW had a lack of experience, this white guy with a good suntan, is about as weak in experience as you can get. I would like to know what it took to get Biden to accept the "Cheney" role, when he "over and over" said there was no way he would accept the Veep role!! So I take it JB would answer the phone at 3:00 AM? Kind of a "call forwarding" thing! So, why would Barak start working "educrat" hours, when the White House only works a couple days a week now? Now that JB has the 2nd banana role, I guess Gov Pawlenty is out, huh? Romney is the only logical choice that is left. But I've got faith in ole JB, he will stick his foot in his mouth, many times before Nov. My wife even predicted this weekend, that it would be less than 72 hrs, before you brought up my love for JB.
So it was you that loved JB,...
Back to page topSo it was you that loved JB, was it? I am almost as old as the guy you want to elect as a first-term president, so I have small memory issues. Not as bad as Mrs. Thatcher, mind you, but she was a full three years older than John McCain before her dementia set in. I thought Joe Lieberman seemed mighty vice presidential when he was correcting JM's memory lapses during the recent trip overseas so I am holding out for that decision. I agree, though, that Pawlenty is out. We were getting ready for the governorship of Carol Molnau.
I came across this article...
Back to page topI came across this article about L-BF considering a 4 day school week, and after reading the comments thought I would join your online community to share some more information about how MACCRAY is structuring it. My kids attend MACCRAY and we are all looking forward to the new schedule.
Students will actually be in class longer than on the traditional 5 day schedule. The school day runs from 8 am - 4 pm. Most Mondays are off, except to make up for days students miss due to holidays (ie. Thanksgiving, MEA). Teacher inservices are scheduled for Mondays, and breaks (Christmas, Spring) are shortened. Compare this to the nearest neighboring district, Willmar, where the class day is from 8am-2:30pm M-F, 10 days off at Christmas and for Spring break, numerous inservices and workshops, etc.
Parents I have talked to say that they will be saving on daycare because they will only need 1 full day instead of 5 part days (preferred by daycare providers too). For parents who commute to Willmar (17 miles) the YMCA is offering a full day (7:30am-5:30pm) of supervised programs for about the cost of daycare.
As of last years numbers, the estimated savings to the district will exceed $65000 for just transportation and heating, which is very conservative as the Dept. of Energy is predicting heating fuel (diesel) to be 35% higher this winter. Other savings will come from reduced non-teacher employee hours (custodial, cooks, paras, secretarial).
A concern mentioned was that the kids will be unsupervised on the days off. Many of the Jrs. and Srs. take post-secondary classes at Ridgewater Community College on M,W,F. Also, a graduation requirement is community service/volunteerism, which Jr and Sr High students can do on Mondays. A large percentage of the districts kids are "farm kids" which means that they will probably have plenty to do at home on Mondays off.
Thought this information might shed some light on why about 200 schools nationwide have contacted MACCRAY for information on how they structured the school year. It kind of like being fortunate enough to work 4 -10 hour shifts instead of 5 - 8 hour shifts and have more family/personal time.
prairie rose, thank you for...
Back to page topprairie rose, thank you for your comments. My children attend LBF and I think that a four day week will work well. All students need to pass a standard test before graduation, so I don't feel that they will lose any education by the shortened week.
The comments I've heard around town, is a concern for the non-active kids having more time to get into trouble. I think they would find trouble anyways, so having more time on their hands isn't going to change alot. I do like the idea of community service/volunteering, that benefits everyone.
LBF currently operates in the black, which is a huge accomplishment in this day and age, and I applaud their forward thinking. As a parent I appreciate that we have no activity fees in our school. That is we don't pay anything for our kids to participate in any sports or extra curricular activities. Uniforms and equipment are provided. Volleyball has just begun (they won their first game!) and all we paid for was shoes and socks. There are no transportation costs or parking fees either. If we wish to do a fund raiser in our school, it must be approved by the super and school board, and that happens very rarely. In addition, last year when the softball team went to state, rooms and transportation were provided. Each player was given enough spending money (as in cash) to pay for all of their meals and extra to purchase a souvenir.
I would also like to add that LBF was one of less than half of the schools in MN, that did not fail that standardized tests that the students took last year. Before the nay sayers jump on me, I don't know the results from the other schools in the area, so I'm comparing them. Just stating a fact, to show that LBF is obviously putting the kids and their education first.
Thanks again, prairie rose, the in site was appreciated.
Peanuts, an added benefit to...
Back to page topPeanuts, an added benefit to the school disctrict is increased enrollment through open enrollment. I recently heard that MACCRAY has gained 53 students this fall through open enrollment because of the four day week. We have an enrollment of around 700 without those new students, so you can see that this is quite significant. Oh, and we are also open enrolling to MACCRAY, but have been for several years now. They are a very forward thinking district, rather than the usual negativity of "we have to cut the budget, poor us." Another cost saving avenue for MACCRAY is sharing an elementary music/band teacher with Yellow Medicine East (Granite Falls). She is half-time at each school. MACCRAY has also pursued combining some sports with neighboring districts, and has also explored sharing some administative services.
The only downfall I have found so far is that the bus is scheduled to pick up my "little darlings" at 6:35 am. This will probably be adjusted to a later time as some kids along the route don't ride regularly (drive themselves or parents drive them to school). But since my kids are among the "farm kids" group, they are used to getting up early anyways, and we just need to set them back another 20 minutes vs. last year.
Another added benefit to families that I noticed as we were doing the dreaded "back-to-school" shopping, was that I wasn't buying as much clothes. Also, we are paying for 4 lunches vs. 5, providing snacks for 4 days vs. 5, etc., etc.
Having grown up as a "farm...
Back to page topHaving grown up as a "farm kid" myself, I'm thinking I wouldn't see the benefits of a four day week! LOL How do sports and other activities work? Do they have games/activities on Mondays? We are enrolled in LBF through open enrollment. They have limited the number of new students they accept. Most grades are less than 30 kids, my oldest will graduate with 25.
Have a great Labor Day weekend!
Good morning from farm...
Back to page topGood morning from farm country! We are typical farmers for this area - 1000 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat. Our kids are in elementary school, so they haven't done much more than pick rocks, help with the garden and ride in the combine or tractor on occasion with Dad or Grandpa.
The Tues - Fri schedule was chosen in part to accomodate sports and extracurricular activities. The schedule of games/meets doesn't appear any different than usual. If the team needs travel time, I imagine they are dismissed early for that purpose. Sports practices are limited to no later than 6pm, except for 5:45pm on Wed (church night). Mondays may have some practice times during the day also. Sports, while important, isn't the all-encompassing purpose of the school as it appears to be in other districts in the area. Bands, orchestra and choir are equally important.
MACCRAY has 2 elementary schools locations, with most classes having about 20-25 students. They combine at 7th grade in the JR-Sr High building. A third Kindergarten class was added this year.
Have a good day!
Good Job Littlefork...
Back to page topGood Job Littlefork school!!!! I think you are thinking outside of the box and are successful because of it. You must have a GREAT group of teachers and a great leader. Like I have stated before we should be looking at what not only your school district is doing but your city. Both are growing and prospering. Again GREAT job to your school and its students!!!!