A bill filed by a state senator would give school districts the flexibility to implement a four-day week with longer days instead of their regular five-day schedule.

Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormand Beach said that school superintendents have been looking for flexibility in the school week in efforts to save money.

As a parent, teacher, student or community member, what do you think about a four-day school week? What are the positives? What are the negatives?

Highlands Today reporter Marc Valero can be reached at 386-5826 or

Donna Scherlacher - 11 February 2009 11:27 AM

A bill filed by a state senator would give school districts the flexibility to implement a four-day week with longer days instead of their regular five-day schedule.

Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormand Beach said that school superintendents have been looking for flexibility in the school week in efforts to save money.

As a parent, teacher, student or community member, what do you think about a four-day school week? What are the positives? What are the negatives?

Highlands Today reporter Marc Valero can be reached at 386-5826 or

Well isn’t that par for the course.........A bill filed without any input from the thousands of parents that might have something to say about this proposal......Sounds like pressure from some school board members that might be feeling the heat concerning their inflated salaries....

Face it....Most schools and teachers can’t hold an audience for 30 minutes as it is....students get bored, and lose interest and focus......Increasing the hrs. and cutting the days in school will only solve a portion of this state’s financial burden........Why not go to Tallahassee and drop the budget axe on those that come up with such lame proposals....

ghost

Speaking as a parent, I do not want a 4 day school week because that would mean my daycare bill will go up for that extra day my son isn’t in school.  I have a 2 year old and an 8 year old and last year I spent almost 7,000 dollars on childcare alone!

who is this saving money for? Certainly not the parents. As mentioned in the above - parents would then have a larger daycare bill. Some people already pay 1/2 of their wages to daycare anyways, I think that they should just leave well enough alone.

As the noncustodial parent, I oppose it. Trust me when I say that my children cannot afford to lose the breakfast and lunch they receive five days a week at school.

bwana - 11 February 2009 02:02 PM

As the noncustodial parent, I oppose it. Trust me when I say that my children cannot afford to lose the breakfast and lunch they receive five days a week at school.

Wow! sorry about your kids Bwana.

Burton - 11 February 2009 02:35 PM

bwana - 11 February 2009 02:02 PM

As the noncustodial parent, I oppose it. Trust me when I say that my children cannot afford to lose the breakfast and lunch they receive five days a week at school.

Wow! sorry about your kids Bwana.

Dude! Shut up and get out there with magpie and feed some mexicans..............

ghost

bridgeghost - 11 February 2009 03:21 PM

Burton - 11 February 2009 02:35 PM

bwana - 11 February 2009 02:02 PM

As the noncustodial parent, I oppose it. Trust me when I say that my children cannot afford to lose the breakfast and lunch they receive five days a week at school.

Wow! sorry about your kids Bwana.

Dude! Shut up and get out there with magpie and feed some mexicans..............

ghost

Did someone speak to you my dumb azz Cracker friend?  I’m just feeling bad that the man’s kids are dependent on public assistance. 
You got a problem with that? Go bang your head on a hascendia wall dude. 

YO amigo. The stimulus bill looks like a done deal. Maybe you and your slacker buddy Bwana can go find a job now. Pay some taxes for a change.

Yet another long winded daisy post…
AS a parent of a formally public schooled child, I appose it. We now homeschool, in part because of all the junk that goes on with schools now-a-days.

Even though this is outdated and does not apply to today because kids are not the same, the times are not the same and apparently kids need to be coddled more but…

In the 80’s when I was in the public school system we were in school from Sept. through June…. That was up north so the months would differ a bit down here. School was also in session from 7:30 a.m. until 4 p.m…. we had a very limited amount of half days (known as early release here) and were allowed a certain number of snow days that HAD to be made up at the end of the year.

I never complained, my parents did not complain. Teachers did not complain and they had time for their paperwork, meetings and to give each student in our average size class of 35-38 students, one on one time if needed to help with the class work or areas of struggle. We had 8 periods of class each and every day, we had gym class every single day, one elective of a life skills type of class to either give you a real life job skill or home and family skills and then rotating on different days of the week, music, art, library and health class… And then the 5 periods of actual academic classes, if you excelled in anything you could stop one and take a study hall type class.

Now everyone wants more money, more funding and less actual class time, less time teaching the children because they are forced to go for training and this and that certification which all must take place during school hours. Unfortunately this takes away from time spent teaching the children in active class with active learning and not busy work. Too many kids fall through the cracks, I luckily caught ours and have taken the task on myself, but I know not everyone can or is willing to do that.

Times have changed and not for the better, people are too busy, too greedy, too caught up with regulation and certifications, we must struggle to become up to date with the modern computer age, in hopes that will bring more money and more success to our future generations.. But all the while, the children are not getting quality educations and are economy has taken a big fat dump on each of us anyway. (though has little to do with the school debate)

Maybe we need to get back to reality and maybe step it back a notch, break out the chalk, blackboards and pencils, paper and textbooks and just have class… once we have that in control, we will in turn save money and then begin to step up the modern age learning tools in a more responsible pace.

Ok phew! All in all I am glad we chose to homeschool.

seems to me that the biggest problem with sending kids to public school would be your kids getting exposed to a lot of peer stuff that you can avoid by maintaining parental supervision. It’s a tough environment for kids. If you elect to home school and can afford to do it, then great. most people can’t afford to do it, nor have the patience and education level needed.

I feel sorry for the teachers that has to deal with the kids they have to be responsible for. I’m talking about elementary level, kids that bring guns to school on a regular basis, I’m talking about 3rd graders that fondle and rape the girls in their class. I’m talking about kids that have no problem attacking the teacher. My daughter’s not only a third grade teacher, she has a 3rd degree black belt in karate, so it’s not a problem for her. The average teacher has no self defense training.
I’m just telling you stories I hear first hand from my daughter folks.
The problem is not the schools, the problem is our society where we grew up, and where we failed our children before they spent the first day in a classroom. Yeah, your children and grand children learned to be minature adults while they still had their baby teeth.  The solution does not lie with the schools, the solution is within the home. And converse to that the problem is there also.

Burton - 11 February 2009 04:21 PM

bridgeghost - 11 February 2009 03:21 PM

Burton - 11 February 2009 02:35 PM

bwana - 11 February 2009 02:02 PM

As the noncustodial parent, I oppose it. Trust me when I say that my children cannot afford to lose the breakfast and lunch they receive five days a week at school.

Wow! sorry about your kids Bwana.

Dude! Shut up and get out there with magpie and feed some mexicans..............

ghost

Did someone speak to you my dumb azz Cracker friend?  I’m just feeling bad that the man’s kids are dependent on public assistance. 
You got a problem with that? Go bang your head on a hascendia wall dude. 

YO amigo. The stimulus bill looks like a done deal. Maybe you and your slacker buddy Bwana can go find a job now. Pay some taxes for a change.

I worked for awhile as a substitute teacher here in Highlands County. One day a teacher/administrator and I were talking about the children we worked with. I mentioned to him that when I was in school, we were not offered breakfast and lunch but only lunch at school. He pointed out to me that for many children in Highlands County, the only meals they get during the week are at school. This is due in no small part to the sorry parents responsible for nurturing and raising them and who will not feed them or keep food in the refrigerater. It is also due to the sorry azz Highlands County Family Court System where what lawyer you get and who you know trumps the best interests of the children.

As for your public assistance comment, I’m not legally entitled to know if my children are on public assistance, but if they are it is due to tax fraud as the custodial parents live in a house that was purchased in 2006 for $180,000. How could you qualify for a $180,000 house and be on public assistance.

On topic, children often are treated like trash in Highlands County. It seems to be because demographically, there are too few parents who give a crap relative to the total population. So, while adding two hours to the school day, when the kid’s attention span is lost shortly after lunch may be approved, it certainly is not in the children’s best interests. I guess the same group who came up with doing away with sports and extracurricular activities is responsible for this stupid idea. One can only hope that teenagers who are bored at home and decide to do a little vandalism or burglury on their day off with the parent(s) are at work will commit the crime against supporters of this idea.

Just couldn’t resist pushing your button dude. Felt like you needed a good b!tch slap for posting that thing telling folks how to get information about me including my SS number. I shouldn’t have stooped that low, I’m sorry. I’m feeling like a scumbag for going so low.

Burton - 11 February 2009 06:22 PM

Just couldn’t resist pushing your button dude. Felt like you needed a good b!tch slap for posting that thing telling folks how to get information about me including my SS number. I shouldn’t have stooped that low, I’m sorry. I’m feeling like a scumbag for going so low.

My comment was not intended to hurt you. I was commenting more on the idea that I feel people are justified in not identifying themselves on public forums, especially where all the flaming goes on. I was by example adding to her comment that it could occur to anyone. I haven’t looked you up, and not everyone’s SSN is in there, but many people have there’s in there despite Statutes that prohibit it. I’ve seen several SSNs of people who would rather me not have them. If you are concerned either look up your documents on the net, or go to the Courthouse and find out if you are at risk. They have done some sloppy work down there.

I’ll have to go back and reread that post Bwana. maybe I took it the wrong way.

Okay, I read it again. Maybe yes and maybe no is my feelings. Yes, you kinda said that, but there was this undercurrent that seemed to be designed to say something more than you claim. Otherwise why would you go to such great length to provide detail. Also it sounded so like you bwana.  Sorry dude, but it came off badly with me.

But..........I don’t hold grudges, as I said once before, I get rid of them as soon as possible, because they’ll poison your soul if you don’t get over it. Again, My apology for taking a cheap shot at you is sincere.

I’m sure we’ll have a few more FRIENDLY jousts in the future. Until we meet again.

Sorry about the off topic stuff folks. My bad!

Burton, I think bwana might’ve gone into such detail because it’s a subject that greatly affects him.

I’ll have my full-on ranting comments on this topic, but first, I’m gonna go get some sleep.

G’night, ya’ll.