Nov 3, 2008 7:51 pm US/Eastern
Miami-Dade Schools Consider 4 Day Week
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Miami Edison Middle School
CBS
A four day school week and longer school hours may be in store for students in the Miami Dade County School District. Parents picking up their children at Miami Edison Middle School had varying opinions, some for and against it.
It's an idea being tossed around by the Miami Dade County School District, faced with cutting more from an already lean budget that has resulted in the loss of jobs and less money for programs. District Spokesman John Schuster tells
WFOR's Gwen Belton that because of the costs of energy and transportation, and other expenditures, a shorter work week could save millions.
If implemented students would attend classes four days a week and be off for three.
Quantraille Cason, who has three children attending Miami Edison Middle School, says longer hours would pose a scheduling problem for her and she'd had to find someone to pick up her kids.
School district officials sent out an e-mail asking for employee feedback. Everyone from teachers to secretaries to bus drivers were asked to fill out a 12 question on-line survey.
Spokesman John Schuster says many of their employees are parents so this is a good field to see how the idea is going over.
The questions range from employees' feelings on a scale of one to five, to which hours they would prefer to work, including coming earlier or later.
The results of the survey will play an important role in the district's decision. Their immediate goal says Schuster is to try out the four day school week this coming summer and go from there in an economy officials say has them looking for ways , some popular and unpopular , to stabilize the budget.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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