ROCK SPRINGS — Sweetwater County School District (SCSD) No. 1 administrators who have been interviewed have expressed strong support for the four-day school week and for continuing it in 2023-2024. Where the rubber hits the road is with the students and what they think of the four-day school week schedule.

As might be expected, the large majority of students interviewed expressed strong support for continuing with the four-day school week schedule. Notwithstanding that fact, a few students have raised concerns about some of the challenges which the reduced number of school days has produced.

In a recent discussion with the “Kindness Club” at Rock Springs Junior High School, of the 20 students interviewed, 18 expressed support for continuing the four-day school week next year. One student had mixed feelings while still supporting the four-day concept, while only one student expressed a strong negative reaction to the four-day concept, and that based upon a

feeling of being “crammed with more assignments.”

The student who expressed support for the four-day schedule while still having concerns about it said that with the five-day schedule “we got a lot more things done” and that with a three-day weekend it was “easier to forget what we learned”. This student added, though, that she appreciated the extra family time on Fridays.

Far more typical was this reaction from 12-year-old seventh grader Lakai Olds, “We have more time for a social life outside of school. The three-day weekend also gives us a mental break from school. It gives you time to be with family and you can travel over the weekend.”

Eastside Elementary School 6th grader Drake Hautala had this to say: “I enjoy having a four-day school week, it isn’t five days so who could complain about that? However, I miss my friends. I do like being good at school though, so when I am in school, I try my hardest. This helps because I have the best teachers.”

Hautala’s friend Emiliano Velasquez also supported sticking with a four-day schedule, commenting, “I go to school to see my friends and make new ones. My classroom is a lot of fun. This is the only downside to the shortened week. I do enjoy the four-day school week because I get to sleep in (on the three-day weekend).”

One ninth-grade student, Marely Adams, expressed concerns about the increased school day length which the four-day school schedule necessarily entails. “For me personally I do not like the four-day school week because the days are longer. I do like the fact that I have more personal time for myself,” Adams said.

Rock Springs High School Principal Glen Suppes solicited feedback from students about the four-day school week and support for continuing that schedule was strong, but again with a few students expressing concerns. Some of the feedback was provided anonymously.

“I like it because I work 10-2 on Fridays and so it helps for when I work,” one high school student declared.

Another student said the four-day schedule works well because her mother and her friend’s parents drive her to and from school, and it’s one less day that the parents have to fit doing that into their schedules.

“I personally like (the four-day week) because the week goes by faster, and we have more time to do homework on weekends,” one student said.

“I like it, (but) I just wish the days were not so long,” another high schooler commented.

“The four-day week is fine but it’s a problem because we have training every day,” another student declared.

Other Comments

“I think it’s good, more of a break, makes me 10 times happier. I have more time to do stuff and do homework.” (Brenalee Hawklin)

“I think the four-day week is great because I like having extra time to work over the weekend.”

Only one high schooler expressed a negative reaction: “I have bad thoughts on the four-day week. It’s bad because even though you have three days off you still spend Friday doing schoolwork.”

The large majority consensus among the students surveyed seems to be that although the school days are longer under the four-day school week with a greater concentration of assignments, and some may miss a few of their friends on Fridays, they are more than willing to put up with a few minor inconveniences in exchange for more time on weekends to be with their families and friends, having more time for work, having more time to get homework done, and having a longer break from classwork.

And despite any inconveniences, none of the students—not one—even among the handful of the most critical, ever expressed a desire to return to a five-day schedule. The concerns that were expressed appeared to be more on the order of perhaps requiring some tweaking of the four-day concept, rather than anything like its abandonment.

Perhaps it all goes back to the sentiment expressed by the Eastside Elementary School Co-Principals Tina Searle and Karl Wells, Ph.d: “Take ownership of your learning.”

Editor’s Note: This is the third article in a three-part series exploring Sweetwater County School District No. 1’s four-day school week. The read the first article, click here. To read the second article, click here.