School district's 4-day week approved

It's official: Monday is now a no-school day in the MACCRAY schools.

The Minnesota Department of Education earlier this week approved the rural west-central district's plan to save money by compressing the school week into four days come fall.

The three-day weekends could pose a time-juggling challenge for some parents and teachers in the district, which links the communities of Maynard, Clara City and Raymond, but for many students it's great news.

"I'm pretty excited," said 16-year-old Carly Haas, who will be a junior next year. "You get a day off from school and homework and everything else."

MACCRAY will be the first district in Minnesota to join rural districts in 17 other states to adopt the alternative schedule that promises to save $85,000 in energy and transportation costs.

No other school districts in the state have applied to the Department of Education for permission to move to a shorter week.

Still, MACCRAY superintendent Greg Schmidt said that, since the school board approved the plan in May, he has heard from plenty of schools in Minnesota and elsewhere wanting to know more.

"We've had a lot of interest from all kinds of people," Schmidt said. "The Albuquerque, New Mexico, district contacted us, and someone from the Jackson, Ohio, district contacted us. I think they're just wanting to know what process we used and why we made the decision to do it."

Most of the interest has come from smaller Minnesota districts, mostly in the southwestern part of the state, Schmidt said.

Schools In the Twin Cities area haven't indicated much of a desire to make the switch. The Osseo district considered a four-day week in 2001, then backed away in the face of public opposition. Several districts experimented with four-day weeks back during the energy crisis days of the late '70s to save on utilities costs.

Longer days, less down time

The MACCRAY district, which has an enrollment of 700 students, embraced the saving potential, which will result from running buses and heating buildings for one fewer day a week.

In return, the Tuesday-through-Friday school days will be longer. Next year's school schedules, for all grade levels, will start at 8 a.m. and end at 4:04 p.m. Last year, school started at 8:15 a.m. and ended at 3:14 p.m. The district hasn't yet figured out all the implications for school sports.

Parents and teachers have been pretty quiet about the new schedule, Schmidt said. But the change means a little bit of schedule-juggling for everyone.

Michelle Kleene, a parent of four, doesn't mind having the kids at home on Monday because she works out of her home. But the longer Tuesday-through-Friday schedule will limit down time for kids between school and meals.

"By the time the students come home from school, we'll all be at dinner time," Kleene said.

She's waiting to see how the schedule shift will affect sporting events and practices for son Nate, who plays football, basketball and tennis.

"I guess my friends feel mostly the same: Maybe this is not necessarily what we would choose to do, but at this point we don't have any other options. Most of us are willing to be open-minded and see how this works," Kleene said.

Games for most varsity sports are late enough so that the longer school day shouldn't pose a problem, Schmidt said. For other levels of sports played earlier in the afternoon some negotiations might be needed with other districts. Or it could mean more lost classroom time for athletes.

"It might be that some of those kids will miss more school than they currently do," he said. "It really depends on the program and age level. ... I think our activities director will have as big a job as anybody trying to work those times out."

Changes in the classroom

Kindergarten teacher Becky Haas, who is also student Carly Haas' mom, will have to pump up her day with more lessons and activities for the longer Tuesday-through-Friday schedules. She hopes her kids, who already sit through a full day of kindergarten, can tolerate the extra hour.

"Right now, I can say they're not exhausted going home, so I hope they will not be when we add an extra hour to the day," she said.

Haas sees some advantages the new schedule will offer Carly, who is busy with sports and academics.

"I see Monday as a down day for her. I think a lot of kids do need that," she said.

Carly figures a lot of her friends will use the extra day to earn more money. "Most of them are planning on working and getting some extra hours in," she said.

Though the new plan will result in many parents trying to figure out Monday day care for their kids, Haas wondered whether that possible inconvenience would be offset by the longer Tuesday-though-Friday days.

"Maybe it will work out for them because maybe the kids are home alone, and now they won't be home alone," she said.

Haas figures life will be tougher for some of her teaching colleagues at higher grade levels.

"They're going to have to go over their curriculum and make sure they can get everything in," she said. "I know a lot of them are working on that this summer."

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547