At Monday's Natrona County Board of Trustees meeting, Charlotte Gilbar Executive Director for School Improvement and Midwest Principal Chris Tobin spoke about the benefits of a four-day school week.
Gilbar said the program meets state requirements for the number of hours required for students, while also benefiting students in five areas, balancing academic time and athletic activities. meet state requirements; expand opportunities for students; meet student needs for extra support from teachers and offer a credit recovery option to at-risk students.
Trustee Clark Jensen asked about the benefits of the program, and Tobin said it definitely benefits students.
“I think it's very positive for our students. If anything, it's an incentive for kids to get their work done in four days as opposed to five days,” Tobin said. “They have every other day of the week to participate in sports or find a job. As said Dr. Gilbar, the kids still get the same number of hours they would normally in a five-day school week, they just put in a little bit. I see that as a benefit to our community and our school.”
A big reason for the extra hours, Tobin said, is because many students participate in sports, which are held on Fridays and the athlete's siblings want to be able to watch.
Instead of a regular school schedule, students are there Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., which also works because of the school's small class size of 140 students in K-12.
Tobin said the change was helpful for students who need help academically or who are looking for work.
“I think it's had a positive impact, like I said it's a motivator,” Tobin said. “On Fridays we offer an opportunity for students who are not passing classes to come in, so if they are passing classes they can come to get extra support…we have a lot of our high school kids who are able to find weekend jobs or help out. I hear a lot of kids say they work for their grandparents.”
Gilbar said she came from a school in Wind River that also had a four-day school week because it allowed students whose families owned farms to spend extra time working.
Tobin said she's not sure if the four-day school week could work at a larger school unless everyone agrees to it.
“Athletics comes into play here,” Tobin said. “Like I was saying, the majority of the 1A schools, the smaller schools, have a four-day school week, so our schedules are very similar. I would say unless all of our bigger schools went to it, I don't know, it would be a challenge.” .
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