Image of the exterior of South Salem High school’s Rose Auditorium. Photo taken by Zoey Keele
Background Information
Schools all around the United States are changing from five-day school week schedules to four-day school weeks. Imbler school district is one of the districts in Oregon that switched from a five-day school schedule to a four-day school schedule. The 2023-2024 school year will be their first time changing their weekly school schedules.
How Four-Day School Weeks Affected Imbler High School
During COVID-19 Imbler had switched their traditional schedule to a modified block schedule, making school in session on Monday-Thursday. Experimenting with that is how they knew a four-day schedule could work.
“Teachers were available on Fridays for any student that needed extra help. The increase in energy for both students and staff was noted during this time. The overall attitude of our population was positive. That made us think that a four-day week could possibly work. Also, all the surrounding schools in our area are currently on a four-day week schedule except for one (La Grande High School),” Mike Mills, Imbler High School principal, said
They have increased the daily schedule from 8:15-3:20 on Mondays-Thursdays. Making it so teachers have Fridays to themselves. It also provides time to be able to prepare for their classes and re-energize.
“I think it also provides more time for our teachers to get more personal with their students and make their classes more individualized for students who require more attention,” Mills said.
Corbett High School Begins Year 15 of a Four-Day School Week
Another school that has a four-day school week in Oregon is Corbett High School. Corbett has had a four-day school week for 15 years. They began a four-day school week hoping that with a longer weekend, students would have more time to reset and engage in extracurricular activities. They thought by having a three-day weekend it would help with better attendance during the school week which would lead to improvement of academic performances and help with cost savings and increase teacher’s spirit.
“We have seen fewer attendance issues as a district since beginning the four-day school week, but with the 18 months of virtual and hybrid school combined, we have begun to see attendance wane. However, this increase in absences is due to students preferring to study at home now, more than being related to a four-day school week. Teacher morale can vary, depending on the week and the tasks before them, but realizing that they have Fridays off is definite motivation to make it through those challenging moments,” Sheila Osborne, director of assessment, curriculum and school improvement, said.
Collateral Damages Come With Change: Corbett High School
Although in the last three years they have seen a decrease in their state scores, they are still above the state average. The reason why they have seen a decrease in their scores is caused by learning struggles during COVID. However, they are rebuilding stamina as they move forward.
Last year they did have some challenges with not having enough mandated school days but were able to fix that.
“Last year, we were in jeopardy of not having enough mandated school days because we had several snow days and had used our bank of allotted days. We were able to add a day into the schedule at the end of the year to make up for those needed school hours,” Osborne said.
With challenges also comes improvement, which Corbett High School has seen.
“Initially, students would happily come to school for a four-day week and engage with their peers, teachers and enjoy extracurricular activities. As mentioned above, COVID has taken a toll on our attendance numbers because students would prefer to stay home but they also believe they can learn the material ‘on their own,’” Osborne said.
Renee Lupien’s Stance on Four-Day School Weeks
Though the Salem Keizer School District still runs a five-day school week, a few South Salem High teachers have an opinion on whether or not we should still have these five-day school weeks. One of those teachers is Renee Lupien, who has been teaching language arts for two years.
“I feel like the lack of attendance and engagement suffers from a five-day school week,” Lupien said.
, Mrs. Lupien thinks it would be helpful for her and other teachers to have an extra day of prep as it would have a sufficient amount of time to prepare for their upcoming classes.
“It would be incredibly beneficial because I feel like I’m not serving my students as well as I could because I don’t have adequate time to prepare,” Lupien said.
Other than shortened school weeks allowing teachers to have additional prep time, it can also benefit the students mental health and academic work.
“I 100% think mental health would improve substantially. I don’t think a two day weekend is enough to really relax, enjoy and do things that we like. I also think that students’ academics would improve because there would be motivation because it’s only a four-day and three-day weekend. I feel like it’s more balanced than a five day and a two day weekend. Four days would balance mental health, academics and teachers being able to serve their students,” Lupien said
Justin Glaze Shares Similar Opinion Regarding Four-Day School Weeks
Justin Glaze is another teacher who has an opinion on 4-day school weeks. He has been teaching for 6 years and teaches English 10 and LRC. As well as those subjects, he also educates special needs students.
“My opinion on five-day school weeks is I feel like Mondays in general are really rushed and it’s hard to get a quality lesson,”. Glaze said
With that extra day, Glaze thinks they could use that day as a tutoring day for students to work on school work and turn in assignments.
“I think that the extra day could be desiccated to tutoring and catching up on assignments. Teachers would be available for students so I think teachers would still work five days but teachers would be available on that day to help students catch up. But also for students that want to excel and take it a step further and they would have more direct access to teachers,” Glaze said.
