AURORA, Colo. — A school in Aurora will soon switch to a four-day school week for the next school year.
Vanguard Classical School (VCS) announced Monday that it will transition to a four-day school week for the 2022-2023 school year.
While the idea of re-arranging the entire family schedule can be daunting, communities across Colorado have seen a tremendously positive response, VCS said. According to the release, 80% to 90% of community members favor the four-day school week over the traditional five-day model.
It was this overwhelmingly positive response that first caught the attention of Jay Cerny, Head of School at VCS.
Further investigation into the four-day model revealed many benefits for both the school and students, the school said, leading the VCS Board of Directors to approve the transition to a four-day school week at their April 2022 board meeting.
While many districts cite financial reasons for the change (districts save up to 20% on operational costs, according to the release), VCS said they were drawn to the four-day model for different reasons.
“We are not doing it for cost-cutting, we are doing it for the innovation. We believe we can do a better job serving our students with a four-day school week and tutoring on Monday,” said Cerny in the release. "Many Mondays on the district’s calendar are already lost to holidays or conference days, so this schedule actually provides more consistency to parents while providing additional instruction to those students who need it most.”
VCS said additional benefits of the four-day model include:
- Improvement in student achievement in both reading and math scores
- Improved work/life balance for teachers, preventing burnout and improving productivity and morale.
- Attracting and retaining Colorado’s top teaching talent due to the attractive schedule.
- “Off days” allow for student intervention to take place outside of regular classroom hours, increasing instructional time for at-risk students.
- Attendance improvement for both students and teachers since appointments can now be made outside of school hours.
While there are benefits in moving to this model, there are challenges the community will face during the transition VCS said.
For most parents and guardians the most pressing concern is how to secure child care for the “off” day. To lessen the strain on working families, VCS said it will provide MondayCare on non-holidays to all students through age 12.
According to the school's release, this will be free for many families if they apply through the Colorado Childcare Assistance Program (CCAP). For others who do not qualify for assistance the fee will be nominal, the school said.
Editor's Note: Vanguard Classical School is not the first school in the Denver metro area to go four days a week as this article previously stated.
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