Everyone grins when the upcoming calendar presents a three-day weekend on the horizon. Days with friends and procrastination time are scheduled along with family time to allow for relaxation, and eventually, the majority of the assigned homework gets completed. Students go to bed Monday night feeling better prepared for the seemingly less grueling days ahead.
Three-day weekends are few and far between, but they shouldn’t have to be. Schools all over the U.S. are moving towards four-day school weeks. According to research conducted by Baylor University educational leadership professor Bill Sterret, after the passage of House Bill 2610 in Texas, which changes the attendance requirement from 180 days in school to 75,600 minutes, some school districts in Texas have begun revising their school schedules to accommodate longer weekends. If Austin Independent School District (AISD) moves towards incorporating these extended weekends into our school lives, overall student and faculty body morale, motivation, and attendance will be significantly improved. With this in mind, AISD should seriously consider moving high schools to a three-day weekend.
In school districts around Texas that have implemented this change, student enrollment and attendance increased to 96%, according to a study by KXAN. It may seem like more time off will lead to more lethargic students, but shorter weeks are proven to motivate kids to show up.
A 2024 national EdWeek survey reports that 60% of teachers polled said 4-day weeks would have a favorable impact on whether or not they would take the job. Shortened weeks lead to greater opportunities to fuel the teaching market. Additionally, 73% of parents polled said they approved of the shortened week, and 85% of students surveyed said they love their three-day weekends and enjoyed how they were able to spend their extra time working on assignments, chores, or hanging out with friends they couldn’t during the week. With more time to plan better and more effective lessons on their off days that students appreciate more, 4-day weekends have the ability to make everyone, students and teachers alike, more likely to show up and more likely to enjoy the time they spend at school.
In addition to providing benefits to mental health and attendance, the study also stated that Mineral Wells, a district around 200 miles from AISD, reported increased savings in everything from utilities to substitute teachers by implementing a 4-day week. Every penny counts for AISD due to the $92 million debt the district has incurred, and an extra day each week without the lights on will make a massive financial difference for AISD and other similarly affected school districts.
Although it has been argued that less time in class is detrimental for working parents with younger students who have no one to watch their children on that day off, this tactic would be most apt for high school students. In fact, the research demonstrates that high school principals have seen a positive response from their students being offered an extra day off to schedule medical appointments and quality time with family and friends. Although working parents with younger students might face difficulty with a four-day week and keeping their children safe at home alone, however, by implementing this plan in high schools that issue can be avoided altogether.
When time is short on the weekends, and there are only a few more hours left to crank out those last few assignments, one might be tempted, as I have been, to raise your fist to the sky in a fit of anger, calling out, “Why can’t we simply have Monday off?” Although it may seem like a mere dream for every sleepy student and overworked teacher, districts across America are moving towards 4-day school weeks. Three-day weekends remain necessary breaks to re-energize the public high school system, and the entire AISD workforce and student population would greatly benefit from this well-researched and tested scheduling agenda.
