Revisiting the four-day vs. five-day school week issue

The issue has come to the forefront at B-B-E.

Parents and community members are asked to take about 5 minutes of their time to fill out surveys regarding B-B-E's move to a four-day school week beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.

Survey results and feedback will be reviewed in depth at the December school board meeting.

B-B-E has a lot going for it right now: a healthy fund balance, a teaching staff that's working on a new 2-year contract (whereas numerous area schools still haven't settled their teaching negotiations), stable enrollment, successful athletic programs, thriving Fine Arts programs, a "Reward" school ranking for the K-6 elementary and a large crop of young, energetic and talented young teachers.

I don't want to throw out my bias on a four-day week...the bottom line for me is that I want our school to grow and thrive in the 21st century, and that means we need to keep our enrollment where it is or better yet gain enrollment! I do not know if a move to a 5-day week will help or hurt enrollment. My hunch is that it would help. We'll see once the surveys come back.