Notoriously, school weeks have been Monday through Friday; kids are at school on the weekdays, and on the weekends they aren’t. But in February 2024, the Fox School District in Arnold, Mo. announced that it is heavily considering moving the school week from the traditional five-day week to a new four-day week. Many Missouri school districts throughout the state are not only considering shortening the week, but have already put implementations into place such as in the North Callaway District, Harrisburg District and Hallsville District.

A common question and concern regarding four-day weeks is what the proposed schedule would do. School days would be longer, resulting in longer classes as well. All days, where students attend all seven classes in one school day, would most likely be removed and school weeks would only include block schedule days.

”I think it would be great because Mondays are hard, and it’s hard to get work done. I would be much more prepared for the week and I would be much better rested [with a four-day week system],” freshman Kaden Hessel said.

While some students support a four-day week schedule, the decision to change the weeks is complex. If Parkway were to shorten the school weeks, then it is likely that the school year would be longer. This would mean a shorter summer and winter break.  

”It would be challenging to change to four-day weeks, because if we cut down the week, then we can’t guarantee the same level of education as before,” senior class principal Mario Pupillo said. “It would mean longer school days, [it] would change how early we start [school] and after-school activities would be changed as well.”

Another worry that critics of four-day weeks have is how students would perform in their classes in a four-day week system compared to a five-day week. There is a possibility that students would gain less information and lack proper time in school to learn.

Additionally, students who play sports would likely lose a day of practice and would lack preparation for games. Athletes typically practice five days a week after school and in some cases on the weekend. Enforcing a four-day week would make practices shorter and later because the school days would be longer. Already, students struggle to manage their academics and athletics simultaneously.

“I play basketball and golf and it is hard to be motivated to do homework over the weekend and after practice when I have practiced all week,” sophomore Wyatt Larsen said.

However, four-day weeks do have their benefits as well. Ultimately, the more kids are in school, the better their grades will be. If Parkway were to change to the four-day week schedule then it’s expected that the school-wide attendance percentage would go up. 

“A lot of kids leave early for weekends, so it would be great for their attendance,” English teacher Shannon Cremeens said.

If Parkway were to switch to a four-day week, then students would have a lot of extra time to do what they desire. Students across the country struggle to juggle many tasks at once, and a schedule change could help them. With the extra day, students could do their extra homework, hang out with friends, relax and much more.  

“It would give me more time to decompress from the week and get more sleep. Also, I would get more work done and not have any missing work,” sophomore Kamori Berry said.

Both the regular and the four-day week schedule have factors that can help the learning experience. All in all, there are both clear advantages and disadvantages of a four-day week, and students at West still have mixed feelings about which decision is best.

”I would be very excited about the fact that we would have less school, but I would be disappointed if we had longer school days. Having the extra day off would help me get more work done, but I don’t [know] how well I would do with a longer school day,” Larsen said.