Jodi Weigand is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review staff writer can be reached at 412-320-7910 or via e-mail.
Faced with significant funding cuts, two Western Pennsylvania school districts could be the first in the state to go to a four-day workweek as soon as fall 2012.
Apollo-Ridge and Keystone Oaks officials will spend this school year doing extensive groundwork to determine whether the cost savings justify the switch.
"We are in a very preliminary stage of examining the whole idea relative to how realistic it is and how we can still meet the academic needs of kids," said Margaret DeNinno, superintendent of Apollo-Ridge, which covers portions of Armstrong and Indiana counties.
Two other districts in the eastern part of the state are considering four-day school weeks as well.
"From a cost perspective, there are certainly savings. And I think the reason why it hasn't been pursued more actively, at least until this point, is that some of the issues get extremely difficult to get through," said Jay Himes, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials.
More than 120 districts in 21 states operate on four-day weeks, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Pennsylvania districts wanting to change must seek permission from Education Secretary Ron Tomalis. Instead of a district's providing the state-required 180 days of instruction, Tomalis can approve an hourly-based calendar, one with 990 instructional hours for high schools and 900 hours for elementary schools.
In a four-day week, that amounts to an extra 75 minutes daily for elementary school students and 82 minutes for high school students.
The impact on education is just one consideration. Extracurricular activities, bus transportation, parents' schedules and the districts' labor union contracts also would be affected.
John McCarthy, president of the Keystone Oaks Education Association, said his union does not oppose a four-day week but would have to work with the district to modify language in the teachers contract that details the length of their workday.
"We're very aware of what's going on in the economy, and if there are ways we can help districts be financially sound without hurting the education of kids, then we're willing to do that," McCarthy said.
Apollo-Ridge estimates its biggest savings, about $200,000, would come from keeping its buses in the garage one more day. District offices are operating on a four-day schedule this summer, and utility usage is being measured to see whether closing buildings for one more day each week creates substantial savings, DeNinno said.
One option is holding classes Monday through Thursday with no homework, then assigning students projects or other work that ideally they would complete on Friday at home, the superintendent said.
"Throughout the year, we'll bring (the idea) to parents and groups. ... Based on the feedback that we get, that will determine whether we continue to look at it," DeNinno said.
Keystone Oaks administrators are going through much the same process. The district has not determined how much it could save by closing on 34 Mondays, said Superintendent William Urbanek. He put together a four-day school week schedule a few years ago when he was an assistant superintendent in the district, but there was little interest then, he said.
"Maybe the time has come for us to take a look and be flexible in our thinking," Urbanek said. "A lot of folks are giving this some thought as a viable option."
Apollo-Ridge elementary students would get out of class at 4:45 p.m. under its four-day calendar.
That's too late in the day, said Tanya Fitzroy, 34, of Apollo, first vice president of the Apollo-Ridge Elementary School parent-teacher organization. Her son is entering middle school and her other children will be in third and first grades in the fall.
"I would think it would greatly affect kids in extracurricular activities and in having time to unwind before it's time to go to bed and get up and do it again," Fitzroy said. "My daughter's dance class starts at 5. How is that going to work?"
Keith Dils, interim associate dean of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania School of Education, said he would be concerned about kids' attention span.
"I would be interested in studies on intellectual stamina. When do they start to run out of energy? When does it start to be inefficient?" Dils said.
Apollo-Ridge School Board member Dominick Duso, a retired elementary school teacher, worries that three days off might hurt students' retention of material.
"Just knowing how kids come back after a long weekend ... we don't want to be in a situation where we damage the gains we've made in the last few years," Duso said.
Then there's the issue of child care, said Raeann Lindsey, 43, of Castle Shannon, who is running for the school board in Keystone Oaks.
"I am a working parent, and it's something that when this was first raised, I brought up," Lindsey said. Her sons are in first and second grades.
Schools in Missouri and Montana have had four-day weeks for several years. A 2009 report from the Montana Office of Public Instruction studied 17 districts with four-day school weeks.
Before the change, community concerns mirrored those here, but after a year or more, students, teachers and the community all said they liked the change, according to the survey.
All the districts reported saving money on transportation and utilities. Fourteen said morale improved among students and teachers. All the districts reported declines in absenteeism.
Lathrop School District in Missouri recently finished its first year on a four-day schedule. Superintendent Chris Fine said the district saved about $164,000, about 1.5 percent of its budget.
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