Hundreds of school systems around the country have adopted four-day weeks in recent years, mostly in rural parts of the country and this includes multiple school districts in Kansas. District Administrators say the move to a shorter week is saving money and making it easier to recruit teachers. The number of districts switching to a shorter school week has more than doubled since the onset of the pandemic.
Data from the Kansas Department of Education lists 71 public schools with four-day weeks this year. The list includes schools in Douglas, Johnson, Jefferson, Franklin, Geary, Riley and Leavenworth Counties. But some education experts are questioning the effects on students who already missed out on significant learning during the pandemic. For parents, there is also the added complication, and cost, of arranging childcare for that extra weekday.
