First-of-its-kind 4-day school week sparks fury as parents forced to pay for daycare and students face longer days

A primary school is moving to a four-day week, leaving some parents outraged as they struggle to find childcare options.

Students will follow a Monday through Thursday schedule when they return for the 2024-2025 school year.

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Vinton Elementary School in Lafayette, Indiana, will be the first in the state to experiment with four-day school weeks, Indiana Public Media reported.

Due to the shortened week, school days will be an hour and a half longer than before.

Cindy Preston, the school’s principal, said administrators began contemplating the four-day schedule after staff expressed their support through a survey.

The school then interviewed the parents.

“It was a strong 50 percent who were in favor,” Preston said.

“25 percent were opposed and another 25 percent were undecided and still had questions.”

The most significant concern among parents was child care, although the local YMCA and a nearby church offer affordable child care on Fridays, according to the outlet.

However, to date, Preston said parents have not enrolled many students in the affordable care program.

Of the nearly 400 children, fewer than 20 were enrolled in both programs combined.

“Will it increase? Will there be more numbers when parents actually have to live this next week and think, oh God, we need to figure this out?” Preston said.

“Or will it lessen as time goes on because parents are able to adjust things and figure things out on their own? We’ll see.”

The YMCA child care program will be held at the elementary school.

It starts at $25 a day, but will give scholarships to those in need, according to Indiana Public Media.

Vinton Elementary will also offer free meals to students on Fridays.

Preston said that although there was some initial concern about the new school schedule, the majority of parents now support the plan.

“For the most part, they are excited and very positive about it,” she said.

“I talked to a few different kindergartner moms who said they’re really grateful for this because their kindergartner might be the youngest and they’re going to miss them.

“And they’re looking forward to spending that long weekend with them.”

The director also believes the change could improve attendance records.

“Friday is always our busiest day because families would leave early and get out of town,” she said.

Preston also hopes the three-day weekend will have a positive impact on the mental health of students and staff, according to the release.

She plans to give students and teachers a longer break so they can return to school next week and “give us everything they have.”

Parents who did not want to change to four-day weeks had the option of transferring their children to a different corporate elementary school, with transportation provided.

Preston said although nine students left Vinton Elementary, 17 new students enrolled.

“We have great families here who are willing to try,” she said.

Indiana approved the school’s updated three-year schedule.

Preston said he has heard from other teachers across the state who want to learn more.

“I’ve had a lot of teachers that I’ve taught with come up to me and said, ‘Oh my God, we’re all watching and rooting for you. Like, we hope this is a success because we would love to see this spread in other places,'” she said, according with Indiana Public Media.

Preston believes teachers will need time to adapt to the changes next year, but said his team is ready for the challenge.

“We said, ‘This is your time, guys. This is your time to shine. Let’s see what we can do here, what kind of difference we can make,” the director said.

“We’ll just have to see. All eyes are on us.”

INDIGNANT REACTIONS

Despite Preston’s optimism, many expressed outrage when Indiana Public Media shared the school’s news in an August 2024 Facebook post. publish.

“What a horrible thing to do to children and parents. An hour or an hour and a half more school days,” wrote one grandmother.

She then revealed that her grandchildren take an hour-long bus ride to and from school and don’t get home until 4:10 p.m.

However, with the new schedule, they will only get home around 6pm and will have to wake up at 5am the next morning.

“Those poor kids. What about child care on that fifth day out of school? What are they thinking?” she continued.

Another person also raised the issue of childcare.

“So now parents have to pay for daycare on Fridays where they normally wouldn’t have to pay,” the concerned woman wrote.

“Even $25 a day per child is more than most parents have to spare.

“Not to mention the kids will be exhausted from working so many hours. I can see a number of problems with this. But good luck,” she continued, in part.

“And now how many parents will have to shell out money for daycare on Fridays when there is no school,” wrote a third woman.

A man was worried about how the time change would affect his children’s grades.

“School already seems long when you’re there. Do you think the kids want to stay there for another hour and a half?

However, despite the backlash, some parents have expressed support for the four-day school week.

“We’ve had it 4 days since my oldest started and we LOVE it!!!!” one mother wrote.

Another mother shared that her children’s school in Colorado also followed a four-day schedule.

“We had this in Colorado and honestly it was wonderful,” she said, adding that “it took a few [of] weeks to adjust”, but it really made “a difference”.

Three-day weekends gave his family a day to work together around the house, yard, and farm, while also providing extra vacation time, more time for sports games, and more time with friends.

“The level of ‘urgent anxiety’ has dropped a lot, [and] the children were more relaxed. I was sad to see it end when we moved to Indiana,” she concluded.

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