Mental health is a growing issue in our schools. The stresses of life and recent events coupled
with the school work or extracurriculars is taking a toll on our well being. Could the solution be
shortening the school week to 4 days instead of 5?
A recent survey of 33 Cy Springs students showed that 79% said they would prefer a four day school
week. and 3% said things are better the way they currently are, and 18% said they would rather have
a half day on Friday instead.
So how could a 4 day school week improve the school?

One benefit of  a four day week is it allows you to manage your time better. Many of the upperclassmen feel they do not have enough time to keep up with school and their jobs in a
healthy way. Meanwhile others students also participate in extracurriculars and believe there just isn’t enough time for everything.

¨I’m for it, basically it would make school a lot less stressful but it condenses the work day so it would be harder because we would have to turn in the same amount of grades.
But it would save us time overall, more time to enjoy ourselves,” Levi Feith said.

A group interview revealed that the majority of students have a positive opinion of a 4 day school week.
The general consensus is that it would help ease the mental toll that it takes on students.  They agreed it would
definitely be better for us with some stating it is hard to concentrate at school so working at home would be nice.

Despite the benefits of a four day school week, it is not perfect.

¨I’m honestly against that because we are getting less education and we feel the pressure of keeping up with schools from
other states who are having five day school days. We miss out on education, you know,” Hershie Soriano (10th) said.

Although it would provide a multitude of social benefits, a four day school week would undeniably mean
less education. The extent to which can be mitigated by extending the school day by an extra hour. The
extra instructional time would ensure that Cy Springs students still get the quality of education that they usually do.
Thinking more long term however shows that a four day school week may put students at a disadvantage
when applying for colleges or university.

̈I think Texas is one of the only places that is doing four day school days and as someone that wants to go to college out of state, I think that
would personally affect me because my education would be more laid back and I  would not be on the same level as the kids from outside of Texas who are getting  five days a week of education,¨ Soriano said.

Has CFISD considered implementing a 4 day school week?

Assistant Principal Simone Alshomade offered insight into the thought process of the faculty.

¨Because every student that is here per day, you are allotted a certain amount of money for them. So if you are not here, that is a loss financially for the school. Transportation and food costs, however I do think they are not thinking outside the box. Kids could come in on certain days and work on extracurriculars or make up work.¨

The main concern of the district is the financial loss that they would take. Less kids in schools means less
money for education. Ms. Alshomade shares the sentiment of many other students in that we do not need to
necessarily transition to a four day school week but rather, revise and overhaul the way school is structured.
It could take the form of one less school day, or a half day, or maybe even an optional non traditional
school day.
A four day school week is not entirely out of CFISD´s interest however, a nationwide teacher shortage is
straining the teachers capacity to educate. Many of us have had to deal with absent teachers, permanent
substitutes or teachers without enough training. A possible solution to this growing problem would be to
have a four day school week in order for more classrooms to be filled. Having one less day would mean
there would be more teachers available during the four days.
Teachers are clearly overworked, the majority of teachers spend their weekends grading assignments
leading to less energy and motivation to keep teaching during the week. Students and teachers alike could
benefit from an extra day of rest to be more productive or catch up on work. Therefore, a four day school week would allow both teachers and students to ease the mental stress that builds up
during the week.
CFISD tries to help students going through mental stress but maybe suicide prevention stickers on the
back of IDs is not enough. Maybe lessening the mental strain that many students and teachers face on a
daily basis could be an instrumental step into improving our schools mental health. Maybe that could be
in the form of a four day school week, or a half day, all that can be said for now is that a four day work week is
worth considering.