It’s a Monday in September, but with schools closed, the three children in the Pruente household have nowhere to be. Callahan, 13, contorts herself into a backbend as 7-year-old Hudson fiddles with a balloon and 10-year-old Keegan plays the piano.
Like a growing number of students around the U.S, the Pruente children are on a four-day school schedule, a change instituted this fall by their district in Independence, Missouri.
To the kids, it’s terrific. “I have a three-day break of school!” exclaimed Hudson.
But their mom, Brandi Pruente, who teaches French in a neighboring district in suburban Kansas City, is frustrated to find herself hunting for activities to keep her kids entertained and off electronics while she works five days a week.
Yeah, this is premature. We need 4 day work weeks to become the norm before this can be realistic for schools
Unfortunately the reasoning isn’t to improve school-life balance or give parents more time with their kids, it’s that schools in the US are criminally underfunded and cannot afford to operate 5 days a week.
On the other hand, if this puts on pressure to more quickly move to 4 day work weeks then I’m all for it. Actually, I’m all for it either way. I wish I had 4 day school weeks when I was a kid.
Absolutely. It would give parents a day off on weekdays to get errands done and relax without the kids.