Our Opinion: Bold move for New Bloomfield schools

The New Bloomfield Board of Education last week approved a plan to switch to a four-day school week with the start of the next school year.

It's a bold move - one that other districts have studied and a few have implemented.

Passionate board members and other interested parties argued for and against the proposal.

Supporters cited a teacher survey that showed 88 percent approval in considering the move and 50 percent support from district patrons. They also said the appeal of four-day workweeks could help the district hire quality educators in a small district that can't afford to match salaries of larger districts in Mid-Missouri.

Some districts have made the move, in part, for cost-savings.

We like outside-the-box thinking, but we believe all of the arguments should be secondary to one consideration. To us, the most relevant question should be: How will this affect students' education?

It was a question that was brought up, for sure. One board member even withdrew his nomination for re-election, saying he couldn't support "taking away instructional time from kids."

The proposal will reportedly result in 47 fewer hours in class per year. That's a substantial amount.

Another question is: Can students maintain the same focus and productivity for longer school days? We suspect, overall, that they cannot.

We look forward to seeing how four-day school weeks works out for New Bloomfield and other districts that are going this route.

There are positives and negatives, to be sure. Our biggest worries are that students will receive less education, and will lose some of their focus toward the end of the four days a week they are in school.

News Tribune