One important reason is to reduce student absences.

Last year our students had 5776 absences with 1155 absences falling on Friday.  By going to a 4 day school week, the school should eliminate those Friday absences. That’s the equivalent of 4 extra school days per student.

The 4 day week would also save on school-sponsored absences. The number of school-sponsored absences on Friday last year was 398.

When all of the absences are broken down, the elementary students would gain the equivalent of about 994 absences or 6.7 additional school days per student.

In the Junior High School, the students would gain 287 absences which equates to 7 additional days of instruction per student.

The High School attendance numbers are even more dramatic. A 4 day week would allow High School students to save the equivalent of 1000 instruction days or 11 more instructional days per student.

The bottom line is that if we want our students to learn and improve, we must maximize their time in the classroom.

Another important reason is the number of teacher absences that would be saved. Last year our teachers were gone 80.5 Fridays. On top of that, our teachers were out of the classroom for 45 days to work on Response to Intervention.  A 4 day week would allow the teachers to have Response to Intervention on Fridays, saving 125.5 days out of the classroom.

The more the teachers are with the students, the better our students will perform.

If you would like to provide your input, please fill out the attached survey and return to Cascade Schools by April 12. Thank you for your feedback.