4 school days a week? Some say no way
Greenman Elementary School fifth-grader Melanie Garcia would just say no to a three-day weekend.
Any school district that converts to the new four-day school plan the Illinois House is supporting would have to keep the number of instructional hours it offers the same as at present. And 11-year-old Melanie fears this would mean longer class days.
"By the time they'd finish and I did the after-school things, I would be getting home at 5, 6 at night," said the West Aurora girl, who is involved in drama, Illinois Math and Science Academy classes and sports after school and in choir before school.
Although neither the West Aurora nor East Aurora district is considering moving to a four-day school week, they could if the state Senate also agrees to the bill that the House passed this week. Designed to allow the downstate Jamaica School District to cut the cost of busing students by one day a week, the bill passed the House 81-21.
"You're not going to be talking about a city of Chicago doing this kind of thing," said Yorkville Republican Rep. Kay Hatcher, who voted for the bill. "But with rural districts, especially (ones) that have huge transportation issues, busing children many, many miles can create significant costs."
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