Thank you for proving the benefits of a 5 day school week vs. a 4 day school week. It obviously did wonders for you. Did you even read this before you hit the submit button. Spell check? Grammar? Ughhh

What a senseless rant. The author believes that the downside means kids cant have part time jobs, cant participate in extra curricular activities, might be too tired to concentrate....blah blah blah. If it is only a move to save money for the school so what? The school can cut expenses, operate in the red, or raise taxes to cover the short fall. Parents that don't like it can move to another school system, home school, grass root an effort to change it make it work. Or just sit there and whine about it like the author. Frankly, considering comparisons of our education system to other developed countries we have bigger problems than a 4 day school week to fix.

A 4 day school week would be fine if the teachers get 20% less pay.

Umm, sorta on point, sorta not. A 5 day school schedule, in my humble opinion, is a far better option because the child is in class more and absorbs more. We all see what happens over the summer - a percentage of what they learned the prior year is forgotten. I say extend the hours. Another argument for having a 5-day schedule is the parents can have a full time job vs part time.

Susan, I respectfully disagree with you.

"About this column: Sue, a former Buffalo Grove resident, is an Illinois state certified teacher who received her Master of Arts in Teaching at National-Louis University. She taught in District 21 for six years before leaving the windy city suburbs and beginning her career as an Academic Coach in Connecticut. She spends her time exactly the same way she did in Buffalo Grove, watching her teenage sons play ice hockey."

So, you live in CT and are blogging in Grayslake? How is this local?

today teachers are a lot better looking than when i was in school back in the 70's .. Should we go to 4 days to save money ?? Stop wasting our tax payers money teaching the kids of the illegals $ 1 reason many schools are in trouble and over crowded....
Look at Waukegan schools 75 % of the kids are from illegal parents. 40 kids per room, when they should only have 15 kids per room.

In alot of latin american schools, children go to school year round, have longer school days and have off from Oct-Nov till the new year. Having the summer off in the past was do to families having the children, help with the farming at home, that no longer is the case.

Teachers are salaried professionals, and therefore are not paid by the hour. It would be impossible to breakdown the number of hours a teacher works, however, even if it were, teachers do not all make the same salary. The $79 and hour is a fabrication and in no way based on fact.

I agree that school is not "day care." HOWEVER, most of the real world (parents of these kids included,) work a 5-day week. In this economy, there is no choice but to work a 5-6 day week, and many families are now DUAL income families that didn't used to be, before the Recession. The school days/weeks need to coincide as much as possible with the childrens' schedules, so that average working families can commit to all their responsibilities, without upsetting the apple cart. Since our state is bankrupt, maybe we need to figure out another solution to this "cash strap" problem.

In an effort to "reply" to my own comment, what I meant to say is that the "school days/weeks need to coincide as much as possible with the Parents' work schedules."
Our family is a perfect example of this. With 4 kids, and being a stay at home mom for the past 17 years, I had to go back to work in 2011. I was forced to choose a job that coincides with my children's school schedule. (Fortunately, the Mon-Friday 8-5 is pretty normal in the Work World.) Just clarifying...

Brad, if you don't like Susan's columns don't read them.

I don't know what the percentage is, but there are a lot of households that have two working parents.

Fridays off will mean added expense or schedule juggling for those folks. Why make things more complicated for the parents? things are tough enough.

I will take a picture of his salary report.. Legally.. It must be broken down.

U can look any teachers up

Susan's article contained some misspellings. But her points are valid and well-written. As a financial analyst, I predict that the cost savings are minimal. In fact, keeping the school buildings open longer and for more days allows the community to utilize the space for meetings, recitals, sports events, etc. realizing a true cost savings.

At the tutoring center at the local community college, I found beginning students as well as "adult students" (those over age 24) taking remedial classes. I believe it's not just a matter of a four-or-five day school weeks, but a matter of application. I saw many younger students at college slack off while their parents paid the bills.Those students who worked and went to school tended to apply themselves to schoolwork more thoroughly. I saw people in their 40s and 50s return to school because they couldn't read. I'm sorry for the rant, and apologize for any lack of grammar, or spelling errors. There are also people under 24 who really apply themselves and advance to a university, or to the possibility for a better job. Please note my bias as a 40-year-old student returning to school. I know this is off topic, but I thought it might be a perspective worth noting.

No.

None.. I grade all his papers and handed him all my medical powerpoint presentations to get his masters.

AND FOR YOUR FREE VIEWING PLEASURE:

2016: Obama's America - Entire Documentary Here
http://www.butthurt.co/obama/2016

James is my hero!

A 4 day school week would make for an interesting discussion. In some of the school district that have done this lowered their costs while improving educational outcomes.

http://educationmatters.us/2005/09/26/4-day-school-weeks/

For the record.. I WAS a jr high teacher.. I am NOW a doctor ( past 14 years). My boyfriend IS a teacher making 120k a year locally. I gave him all his work to obtain his masters.. And correct his kids homework...

ABSOLUTELY!! Without me..he would not correct and hand back with straight up failing grades. He admits he is lazy and does not care, as do his co-workers. In their words "there is nothing more me can do..it is a race to nowhere". I would be doing society a disservice if I lied.

I spoke with several workers from the Catepillar Corporation who work on a 4-day, 10-hour shift schedule. They were uniformly of the opinion that it was far more stressful and less productive.

There is one change that, if we really cared about students learning, ought to be made: start the school day LATER, especially for high school students who are going through all sorts of hormonal changes and trend towards night owlness. Many students are physcially and mentall exhausted because of when they must awaken to begin to prepare for their school day (for which at Barrington Consolidated High School, classes start at 7:20 a.m.).

James is correct, "It's for the kids" has been a saying used for anyone trying to do something for a certain ulterior motive or reason to get people "off the trail" of what really is happening. My property value does not go up 4.5% a year, my pay has not gone up 4.5% a year. Why do I as a property tax payer have to pay more every year for this...??? Especially in an economy where one should be glad to even have their job yet alone keep crying for more when the well is dry.

Very well said. Last year medicare cut reimbursement rates 3.2%. I took a NEGATIVE 3.2% raise!