MINNEAPOLIS — As students return to the classroom across Minnesota, a handful of districts in more rural areas of the state are using a four-day school week model, with the Carlton Public Schools near Duluth becoming the latest to join the trend this fall.
According to the Minnesota Department of Education, roughly a half-dozen districts have switched to four-day weeks, with Carlton the only district to make the move in 2024-25. The others are Atwater Cosmos Grove City, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, Blackduck, Lake Superior, MacCray and Ogilvie.
Smaller districts have often cited the financial benefits of having school four days a week instead of five. For example, the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa schools have worked on a four-day schedule for more than a decade and estimate a cost savings of five percent each year.
In Carlton, Superintendent Donita Stepan said her district decided to make the move this year to improve student mental health and prevent staff members from leaving for other districts. She told KARE 11's Jana Shortal in a Zoom interview that the district of roughly 300 kids is nearly fully-staffed this year for the first time in years.
"We have to do something different in public education. Our kids are suffering and our teachers are suffering. This was one thing that we came up with that we thought could help solve that problem," Stepan said. "It's difficult for us to retain staff when they can make quite a bit more money four miles up the road. So, we're always trying to think of what can we do that's different and unique."
Nationwide, it's estimated that as many as 900 districts have created four-day school weeks, often with four longer days instead of five shorter days.
But parents have occasionally pushed back, due to concerns about child care or about whether academic gains will be impacted under a four-day schedule.
Vivian Okell, a student at PiM Arts High School in Eden Prairie, said she's happy with the five-day structure.
"I think that having four days with longer days would be more mentally taxing than having five days with shorter days," Okell said. "I think having five days a week prepares us for when we go into a job, realistically. I think we go to school to learn."