Hundreds of school systems around the country have adopted four-day weeks in recent years, mostly in rural and western parts of the U.S. Districts cite cost savings and advantages for teacher recruitment.

It’s a Monday in September, but with schools closed, the three children in the Pruente household have nowhere to be. Callahan, 13, contorts herself into a backbend as 7-year-old Hudson fiddles with a balloon and 10-year-old Keegan plays the piano.

Like a growing number of students around the U.S, the Pruente children are on a four-day school schedule, a change instituted this fall by their district in Independence, Missouri.

To the kids, it’s terrific. “I have a three-day break of school!” exclaimed Hudson.

But their mom, Brandi Pruente, who teaches French in a neighboring district in suburban Kansas City, is frustrated to find herself hunting for activities to keep her kids entertained and off electronics while she works five days a week.

  • @andros_rex
    2•1 year ago

    Cutting costs. At this point teachers are expected to stock their own classrooms. There’s very little money for anything.

    Also it’s recruitment for teachers. Extra day off = actual time to get things done/restore sanity. A lot of rural districts do this because they’d have no one otherwise.