California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

    Four-day school week will foster productivity

    A new bill that allows Moorpark High School to have a four-day school week passed through the senate committee on April 3.

    According to the Ventura County Star, โ€œIt would make Moorpark the 10th district in the state to have a four-day week program.โ€

    According to the article, the new shortened week would allow students to get internships, do community service and work toward their future careers. Students in the current program must have a minimum of a 3.0 GPA to be accepted and are in a program that is โ€œacademically rigorous.โ€

    Unlike a traditional high school schedule, the intention of the four-day school week is to encourage students to do more than work in a classroom setting.

    Mariana Robles-Dalany, assistant professor of education at CLU, thinks this will be a good opportunity for the students.

    โ€œThe high school at Moorpark is already an โ€˜alternativeโ€™ high school program, so students who apply for admission are looking for an experience that differs from a typical high school experience and is closer to a college experience,โ€ said Robles-Dalany in an email. โ€œHaving said that, the four-day schedule will present some time management challenges, not unlike what first year students experience when entering college.โ€

    California Lutheran University junior Lorna Banuilos also thinks this a positive step for Moorpark High School.

    โ€œIt seems like a really great way to help students engage in what they want to do for their career. The only thing that concerns me is shortening the normal week to four days, I wonder how students will be able to adjust to this new schedule,โ€ said Banuilos.

    I also believe it could be difficult to enforce the use of Friday in an educational and career-oriented manner.

    CLU junior Kiersten Schmidt thinks it may be unfair to change the high school experience for certain students.

    โ€œIf I were one of the students attending that school, I would be excited to have Fridays off to do work outside the classroom, but itโ€™s hard because itโ€™s changing the high school experience of everyday being together and learning together,โ€ said Schmidt.

    But the new experiences the students at Moorpark High School will have with their new schedule make up for this.

    โ€œIn order to set students up for success, there will have to be some structures in place by the school administration to ensure that students are actually using their time on Fridays as intended by the bill,โ€ said Robles-Dalany.

    Robles-Dalany suggested having an attendance sign-in binder at various service agencies where the students will be working on Fridays. She also suggested submitting weekly sections of a long-term project as a way to enforce independent work.

    If there are procedures in place to make sure the students are using the day off wisely, then I think this four-day week will be a positive and productive opportunity for students.

     

    Veronica Manzo
    Staff Writer
    Published April 17, 2013

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