Schools eye four-day week to cut fuel costs

[Eleni]

I am sorry, but how ridiculous is this? Its PATHETIC actually. THIS is how they propose to save money? By cutting a day out an already poor educational system?

Why dont Gates and Bloomberg take that money they plan on WASTING in foreign countries to "stop smoking" and pour it into the US education???


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Facing a crippling increase in fuel costs, some rural U.S. schools are mulling a solution born of the '70s oil crisis: a four-day week.
Cutting out one day of school has been the key to preserving educational programs and staff in parts of Kentucky, New Mexico and Minnesota, outweighing some parents' concerns about finding day-care for the day off.

"For rural school districts where buses may travel 100 miles round-trip each day, there certainly are transportation savings worth considering," said Marc Egan, the director of federal affairs at the National School Boards Association.

Egan said about 100 schools in as many as 16 states have already moved to a four-day school week, many to save money on transportation, heating and cooling.

Nevada's White Pine School District switched just one of its schools to a four-day week three years ago. Now, with energy costs soaring, four other schools in the district are following suit.
"We're looking at it district-wide with energy costs being at the forefront of the conversation," said Bob Dolezal, superintendent of Nevada's White Pine County School District, which is facing a 14 percent budget cut due to a shortfall in state funding.

MACCRAY Public Schools in Minnesota, which voted to switch to a four-day week in May, expects to shave 10 percent off transportation costs, which have risen unexpectedly in recent years as fuel costs have shot up.

"The savings for a four-day week just on the transportation alone were $65,000," said MACCRAY superintendent Greg Schmidt.

The plan initially did cause alarm among some parents, who were concerned about finding child-care, but most have managed to find place their kids in day care or with relatives, Schmidt said. In addition, MACCRAY plans to institute a child-care certification program for older students to offer day care for younger kids on the day off.

One of the pioneers of the four-day week, the Cimarron, New Mexico school district, is looking to cut energy costs by getting back to its roots. Cimarron Public Schools moved a four-day week when energy prices shot up in the early 1970s, but has become more "complacent," letting the heating and cooling systems run even during the day off since the end of the OPEC oil embargo, Cimarron's superintendent James Gallegos said.

With soaring energy costs, that will no longer be the case: "As we start the next school year, it's going to be very minimal on the Fridays that we are off," Gallegos said.

Webster County School District in Kentucky switched to a four-day week four years ago under economic duress -- a state budget crisis left the school in limbo, leaving the district with the option of dropping school days or cutting staff and programs.

The district ended up saving tens of thousands of dollars in fuel and energy costs, helping to cut total costs by 3.5 to 4 percent, said James Kemp, the superintendent of the Webster County School District.
The shortened week at Webster also brought unexpected benefits such as improved attendance and a boost in student performance.

"If we were to go back to a five-day week, the school board and I would be run out of town," Kemp said.

[darius]

yay . . . let's think of some more ways to fuck our kids out of a decent education. lately, i'm becoming more of a fan of home-schooling. fuck the system, until it's time for high school or college.

[TheHipHopBillGates]

what would be the point, so it could go right out of the country paying for foreign oil anyway? If you look at what Buffet & the Gates foundation has done with their expeditures it's heavily tilted to the educational field. 4 day weeks make sense, you wouldn't want to have another day off? Whoever invented the 5 day work week should be shot!

[metfan85]

what would be the point, so it could go right out of the country paying for foreign oil anyway? If you look at what Buffet & the Gates foundation has done with their expeditures it's heavily tilted to the educational field. 4 day weeks make sense, you wouldn't want to have another day off? Whoever invented the 5 day work week should be shot!

:LOL

anyway its not like the kids are going to be completely shafted, there prob going to extend the schoolday. It's seems like a great idea to save money.

[ShaE]

I am sorry, but how ridiculous is this? Its PATHETIC actually. THIS is how they propose to save money? By cutting a day out an already poor educational system?

Why dont Gates and Bloomberg take that money they plan on WASTING in foreign countries to "stop smoking" and pour it into the US education???


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Facing a crippling increase in fuel costs, some rural U.S. schools are mulling a solution born of the '70s oil crisis: a four-day week.
Cutting out one day of school has been the key to preserving educational programs and staff in parts of Kentucky, New Mexico and Minnesota, outweighing some parents' concerns about finding day-care for the day off.

"For rural school districts where buses may travel 100 miles round-trip each day, there certainly are transportation savings worth considering," said Marc Egan, the director of federal affairs at the National School Boards Association.

Egan said about 100 schools in as many as 16 states have already moved to a four-day school week, many to save money on transportation, heating and cooling.

Nevada's White Pine School District switched just one of its schools to a four-day week three years ago. Now, with energy costs soaring, four other schools in the district are following suit.
"We're looking at it district-wide with energy costs being at the forefront of the conversation," said Bob Dolezal, superintendent of Nevada's White Pine County School District, which is facing a 14 percent budget cut due to a shortfall in state funding.

MACCRAY Public Schools in Minnesota, which voted to switch to a four-day week in May, expects to shave 10 percent off transportation costs, which have risen unexpectedly in recent years as fuel costs have shot up.

"The savings for a four-day week just on the transportation alone were $65,000," said MACCRAY superintendent Greg Schmidt.

The plan initially did cause alarm among some parents, who were concerned about finding child-care, but most have managed to find place their kids in day care or with relatives, Schmidt said. In addition, MACCRAY plans to institute a child-care certification program for older students to offer day care for younger kids on the day off.

One of the pioneers of the four-day week, the Cimarron, New Mexico school district, is looking to cut energy costs by getting back to its roots. Cimarron Public Schools moved a four-day week when energy prices shot up in the early 1970s, but has become more "complacent," letting the heating and cooling systems run even during the day off since the end of the OPEC oil embargo, Cimarron's superintendent James Gallegos said.

With soaring energy costs, that will no longer be the case: "As we start the next school year, it's going to be very minimal on the Fridays that we are off," Gallegos said.

Webster County School District in Kentucky switched to a four-day week four years ago under economic duress -- a state budget crisis left the school in limbo, leaving the district with the option of dropping school days or cutting staff and programs.

The district ended up saving tens of thousands of dollars in fuel and energy costs, helping to cut total costs by 3.5 to 4 percent, said James Kemp, the superintendent of the Webster County School District.
The shortened week at Webster also brought unexpected benefits such as improved attendance and a boost in student performance.

"If we were to go back to a five-day week, the school board and I would be run out of town," Kemp said.

It doesn't take a genius to see where education lies in our governmen't list of priorites. Disgusting.

Yes, taking school time away from kids and adding another day of paid child care onto parents' already rising household tab, is an acceptable means of handling rising fuel costs.

I mean, b/c our kids are doing so well anyway, they don't need the time.
Instead of robbing our kids of their education, why don't they ask fat cat ceo's to kick back some cash to help "alleviate rising fuel costs"?

Because this is america, and nobody asks you to give back anything, they just keep taking from those that can't say no.

[ShaE]

:LOL

anyway its not like the kids are going to be completely shafted, there prob going to extend the schoolday. It's seems like a great idea to save money.

Most modernized countries have kids in school all week long, all year long. Oh, and they're WAY smarter than ours.

Our kids go less often, and get a nice 3 month break. And we wonder why our kids are behind.

[metfan85]

Most modernized countries have kids in school all week long, all year long. Oh, and they're WAY smarter than ours.

Our kids go less often, and get a nice 3 month break. And we wonder why our kids are behind.

oh absolutely. i have a friend from the Philipines, he was taking calculus courses at 12 years old. doesn't necessarily mean they are smarter. they are better educated at earlier stages. but to me it's like the parents who put their kids in pre-prepre school at 2 years old. sure the kid will be smarter when he gets to 1st grade, but everyone else catches up sooner or later.

but what's better that the school's cut back on resources or extend the day and cut one day out?

[Benny B]

oh absolutely. i have a friend from the Philipines, he was taking calculus courses at 12 years old. doesn't necessarily mean they are smarter. they are better educated at earlier stages. but to me it's like the parents who put their kids in pre-prepre school at 2 years old. sure the kid will be smarter when he gets to 1st grade, but everyone else catches up sooner or later.

but what's better that the school's cut back on resources or extend the day and cut one day out?

i dunno bout you.. but on three day weekends.. umm i usually forget alot of things...

[jameznyhc]

i think we should experiment ..you may hold a childs attention longer.. there could be benefits ..there could be negatives .. but the current system sucks .. I give bloomberg massive props in education accountabilty ..him and klein battle the damn utf everyday for accountability

But i agree with Eleni ..a worldwide anti cigerette campaign?? come on that money could be invested here

[metfan85]

i dunno bout you.. but on three day weekends.. umm i usually forget alot of things...

there were a couple of semesters i took only tuesday/thursday classes with a wednesday nite class. between baseball and goin out, i have no idea how i remembered anything lol

[TheHipHopBillGates]

Most modernized countries have kids in school all week long, all year long. Oh, and they're WAY smarter than ours.

Our kids go less often, and get a nice 3 month break. And we wonder why our kids are behind.

People always say that, but it's always foreign students coming to our top universities not the other way around, and America's competitive advantage has always been it's innovation, sure our education system may not be what it was in the 50s & 60s, but lets not underestimate it either.

[just b u]

i dont know what to think of this. I think it will be harder on the parents, especially 2 working parents, more money coming out of their pockets. I also feel bad for the kids themselves if their days will be elongated, at the end of the day they will have 0 attention span lol

also as eleni said our federal and our state gov't dont have a clue as to where the money should be allocated.

[TrippinFace101]

Or get rid of overpaid teachers that do anything

[Gianna]

I am sorry, but how ridiculous is this? Its PATHETIC actually. THIS is how they propose to save money? By cutting a day out an already poor educational system?

Why dont Gates and Bloomberg take that money they plan on WASTING in foreign countries to "stop smoking" and pour it into the US education???

.

Schools are facing MAJOR budget cuts this September and our city's mayor is worrying about smoking in Asia, Africa, Europe, etc???? Great message he is sending parents of New York. If I was a parent in NYC right now I'd be on every media source screaming about this! He wants to be praised on his changes of the Bd. of Ed then cuts money, but puts his own money to a "Stop Smoking" campaign??? Why doesn't he put that money to schools so we don't face cuts? Why don't we ever take care of our own first??

Oh yeah be sure to send "Stop Smoking" campaign posters over to Greece. They should take it seriously! What a waste!

[Eleni]

Oh yeah be sure to send "Stop Smoking" campaign posters over to Greece. They should take it seriously! What a waste!

yeah really weugfweuilfhiwuehfuiefh
they have no idea what theyre dealing with in Europe...they dont WANT our "help" to save them from smoking They;; take one look at those efforts and light up the next cig

[metfan85]

Schools are facing MAJOR budget cuts this September and our city's mayor is worrying about smoking in Asia, Africa, Europe, etc???? Great message he is sending parents of New York. If I was a parent in NYC right now I'd be on every media source screaming about this! He wants to be praised on his changes of the Bd. of Ed then cuts money, but puts his own money to a "Stop Smoking" campaign??? Why doesn't he put that money to schools so we don't face cuts? Why don't we ever take care of our own first??

Oh yeah be sure to send "Stop Smoking" campaign posters over to Greece. They should take it seriously! What a waste!

As much I hate Bloomberg, I'm assuming Bloomberg's stop smoking campaign is privately funded. The public school system is publicly funded and not only publicly funded it is one of the richest program's in the nation. Let's say he puts his money into public schools, even if he puts 25% of his entire estate that's 500 million dollars and merely a stopgag. After a few years that money dries up and there is no more revenue stream.

Our school's are not facing major budget cuts. I wish they were, that would mean the city got it's books in order, laughable at best, but only a smaller increase in school spending. Which is fine, being that in fiscal 1997, NYC was spending 3.2% less per child than the national average, in fiscal 2004 it was spending 19.2% more than the national average.

Increased school spending is always something I never understood, seeing that Parochial schools give much better education's spending 4 times less money than public schools per pupil.

Again as much as I hate Bloomberg, can't fault him on this one. That's his business his money, let him do as he pleases.

numbers came from http://www.r8ny.com/blog/larry_littl...h_the_u_s.html

and B. of Ed.

[MikeyDubl]

If I were a cigarette lobbyist I would donate just as much money as Gates and Bloomberg to various charity organizations and educational programs

just to stick it to em and say "they call us the bad guy but we are putting our donation to work"


the people I feel for the most....middle america and people from rural back home states....the people who live in places you can make $35,000 a year and survive just fine.....they are paying just as much in gas and oil prices....how do you live?

[metfan85]

If I were a cigarette lobbyist I would donate just as much money as Gates and Bloomberg to various charity organizations and educational programs

just to stick it to em and say "they call us the bad guy but we are putting our donation to work"


the people I feel for the most....middle america and people from rural back home states....the people who live in places you can make $35,000 a year and survive just fine.....they are paying just as much in gas and oil prices....how do you live?

It's a bit easier for them. I dont remember the exact town in North Carolina, but a 34,600 dollar salary there goes as far as a $100,000 in San Fran.