4 Day School Week? It Could Happen Soon In Amarillo and Canyon.
One of the things that is constantly discussed in Texas is going to a four day work week. Giving more time at home with families as well as minimizing employee burnout have been a couple of the biggest reasons for the discussion.
A lot of people have seemingly been on board with extending their work day by a couple of hours for four days in order to have a constant three day weekend. It's not a terrible idea, but there is one thing many are forgetting when it comes to this.
That goes for schools as well, and taking kids to a four day week in the classroom. Now, again, I don't think this is a bad idea. The concept behind it is to slow down teacher turnover rates by allowing them more time to plan and recharge. Dealing with a lot of kids is tough.
Currently, there are 76 different school districts in Texas that have gone to a four day week in the classroom, and 13 other districts have adopted a hybrid of this concept, mixing four and five day weeks in the classroom.
Several of the districts that have adopted one of these two concepts reside in the Texas Panhandle. Channing ISD, Spring Creek ISD, and Silverton ISD have all adopted the four day week. Happy ISD and Groom ISD have both taken on the hybrid version.
With quite a few school districts in and around Amarillo and Canyon moving to these types of weeks, is it possible that both Amarillo ISD and Canyon ISD could move to them in the near future? It's something that obviously our kids would probably enjoy, but what does it mean for parents?
Child care is obviously concern number one in this scenario. Parents would have to figure out how to get their kids watched for that one day where they have to work and the kids are out of school. Is this something that would force businesses in these cities to move to a four day week?
There's a lot of different things to unpack here, but I bring it up only because it's something that could be done in the very near future. I'm not sure if this is something that would have to go on a ballot for voting, or if the school district can simply make that decision on their own. Either way, start thinking about what to do if this happens here locally.
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