It's not only saving money, it's increasing the marks
ATLANTA, MI -- It's not a run-of-the-mill school week in Atlanta.
The decision to reduce the five day week to four days was made in January to help with the budget.
That one less day has paid off in many different ways.
Atlanta Public Schools are in the same boat as practically every school district in Michigan -- they're looking to save money from a dwindling budget. In January, they decided to experiment, and cut an entire day out of the week.
"It's really exciting, the means that we can move forward, by actually using less days," said Teresa Stauffer, the Atlanta Schools Superintendent.
Superintendent Teresa Stauffer says it's worked. The projected savings by cutting Friday was to be $25,000, a small, but significant piece of the school's $3 million total budget. The school that houses K- 12, which is 323 students and 21 teachers, saved over $8,000 on fueling the building in January alone.
“Come in at 7:30, and leave at 4:08," explained student Sally Weigandt.
“We don't have homework, we just do our class work, and we have more time in class to do it," said student Max Foor.
“It saves the teachers a lot of time, especially the layoffs we once had, and we don’t really have to worry about it as much now,” said student Drew Helcher.
The students will agree that the four day school week is a success, and if you ask the Superintendent, she says everything's working out as planned, and she's seen improvements in areas she didn't even think there'd be.
“Every single one of those classes, grades seven through 12, increased their GPA average for their classes. Eighth grade increased their average almost a half a point, for the whole grade," said Stauffer.
Ninth grade increased the average GPA a quarter of a point. Stauffer says it's the vehicle that was needed to move forward.
“It's definitely better, we've had some challenges, but it's definitely better, we are on track to focus on academics, to focus on true achievement, to also balance that with our own very busy lives," said Stauffer.
“It definitely helps out the school because obviously we don't want to be closing down anytime soon, so I guess we have a lot of people to thank for that," said Helcher.
The shorter school week also gives students a chance to work on Friday's, something that Stauffer says is a learning experience in itself.
Classes that have been on the chopping block for many districts in the area are still being offered at Atlanta because of the extra hour in the day.
The Superintendent says she's sent the request to the Michigan Board of Higher Education to have a four day work week again next year.
