A petition was started on change.org at the beginning of the school year to reduce the school week in Conroe ISD to four days instead of five. This petition has gained popularity with over 6,000 signatures and many students discussing it. Now that students have gotten back into the school routine, many are feeling the effects caused by lack of sleep and stress. While the ideas proposed in this petition could potentially reduce some of these problems, a four day week isn’t worth it.

A four day week will “be implemented by adding an additional 29 minutes to each period” if the ideas presented in the petition are adopted by CISD. That’s an additional 116 minutes per school day, which is almost two hours more. Spending an extra two hours per day at school would be more exhausting than going to school for five days in a row. While students will get one more day off on the weekends, they are also going to school for over nine hours per day. 

Another problem with the petition is that it doesn’t change the time school starts. Even if we give students an extra day off to catch up on sleep, they are still going to bed late and waking up early. Now the district has added two extra hours students need to be concentrating in class. Instead, we should be giving students that time to go home and finish assignments so they can go to sleep on time.

After-school jobs and activities could also be affected by these two extra hours. Many students work jobs that start within two hours of dismissal. Adding time to the school day could force many students to either quit their jobs or take early release instead of an elective. Even if students don’t have a job, they could be stuck watching a younger sibling while their parents are at work. These extra two hours at school would also give students less time to complete homework and other assignments outside of class.

While I agree with many points raised in the petition for a four-day school week, I do not agree that it is the solution to the problem. It is a great way to start conversations about this issue, but the truth is a four-day school week will not help as much as we think.