Big Sandy school to go to 4-day week

The Big Sandy School District will be switching to a four-day school week next school year after administrators weighed the pros and cons of the change.

Big Sandy Superintendent Brad Moore said the district will start the 2015-2016 school year with the change in scheduling and thinks it will be easier for all parties.

“In a Class C school, you have so many interruptions on Fridays,” he said. Sports and extracurricular activities take many students out of their classrooms at the end of the week.

He added that it is not a true four-day week, as there will still be activities at the school on Friday.

The switch will increase instructional time for students and more development time for the staff, Moore said.

Each day will increase by 25 minutes. The staff will still be working Fridays.

“We’ll make a very concerted effort to provide Friday activities for students who are needy,” Moore said.

According to a document from the school, approximately 100 Montana schools are operating on a modified school week.

The majority of the students would go to school from Monday to Thursday, except in the event of a Monday holiday, when they would attend from Tuesday to Friday.

Once next school year hits, students will be in school from 8 a.m. 3:45 p.m. They are currently going from 8:13 a.m. to 3 p.m. With these extended times, students will still receive the same amount of instructional time with the four-day week as they would with the five-day.

Elementary students will have an average of 45 minutes for lunch and recess and high school students will have 30.

Addressing the students whose parents cannot afford child care on Fridays and do not have anywhere for their children to go while they work, the school is going to offer morning homework help session with breakfast and lunch available.

“There is also the potential for other organized community activities such as a reading program at the library or perhaps church youth activities,” the document reads.

The document reads that the school has the option of returning to a five-day week if this schedule does not work for the school, students or their families.

The school year will start Aug. 24 and end May 27, 2016.