- MACCRAY Public Schools
- Four Day Week
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At MACCRAY, our mission is to provide an environment for individuals to become knowledgeable, respectful, independent lifelong learners who are positive contributors to society.
We have utilized the Four Day School Week since the Fall of 2006. While some of the initial reasons for the transition have fallen by the wayside, we are still seeing the benefits to our students.
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Decreased missed school
By having Mondays available for appointments, students are able to miss less class time and still keep up on their medical, dental, eye, and chiropractor appointments.
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Family Time
With the longer weekend, our families talk about their ability to still do all the activities they love on the weekends and still have time to spend time as a family.
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Staff Development
Staff has the ability to utilize Mondays to get together and collaborate on lesson plans. The district is also better able to schedule professional development opportunities on Mondays without shuffling what would otherwise be a school day.
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Lessons
Students have an extra day for out-of-school lessons, such as piano, violin, or dance that may not otherwise fit into their schedules.
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College Visits
By having Mondays available, high school students are able to go to take more college visits without missing class.
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Work Experience
Many businesses including farmers rely on the ability to employ high school students on Mondays as a way to keep up with work and fill staffing shortages, providing valuable experience for those students.
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Advisory Period
Our longer day caused by our four day week allows for advisory period for the secondary students to connect with staff. It also allows the elementary school more time to connect with students on conversations beyond classwork.
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Elective Offerings
We have the ability to offer a wider variety of electives to our secondary school students due to our longer day. This also extends to our elementary students being able to have more time for music, physical education, STEAM, and MTSS.
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Added Depth to Classwork
Our longer day enables extra time to add depth to our coursework that may not otherwise be able to be covered.
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"The MACCRAY Staff and Students are so friendly, caring, and welcoming. It is one of the schools in the area I enjoy coming to most because of those things."
