We appreciate the email feedback we have received regarding the draft version of a proposed 4-day school week. We wanted to take this opportunity to address a couple of points that were frequently mentioned on the submitted emails.
First to clarify the different start and end times for elementary students. One of the concerns that was frequently brought up at the start of 4-day school week discussions was the issue of longer days for elementary students, especially K-3. To address this, K-3 would start their school day at 8:10 AM while Grades 4-5 would begin at 8:00 AM. This would not require different drop off times for parents or buses. K-3 students can be dropped off with their older siblings or when buses arrive. They would have an extra 10 minutes on the playground before school, in the cafeteria for breakfast, or extra time for help from a teacher or para.
Additionally, the different end times would be similar. K-3 would be dismissed at 3:35 PM while grades 4-5 would be dismissed at 3:50 PM. Separate pick-up times by parents or buses would not be necessary. Those extra 15 minutes for students who need to wait for rides would be used for extra time on the playground, extra help from a teacher or para, extra time to gather materials and put on their winter gear, etc.
These different start and end times for those grade levels are possible because grades K-3 have different state requirements for time than grades 4-5.
Another question we frequently received is the scheduling of activities during the week if we moved to a 4-day schedule. It would be our goal to avoid scheduling activities on Mondays-Thursdays. However, we cannot promise that it will be avoided 100% of the time. We will make every effort to avoid scheduling during the school week, and when it is not possible to avoid, to do so with as little missed school time as possible. One trend we are currently seeing is that many schools who do not have school on Friday are scheduling Friday activities earlier in the day, or stacking multiple activities like volleyball and football on the same day. This is impacting our students by causing more time missed from school on those days.
Please send any Feedback to: feedback@maltaschools.org
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