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Tom Weber
St. Paul, Minn.

Another MN school district moves to four-day week

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Another Minnesota school district plans to move to a four-day week as a way to save money.

Leaders at the Clearbrook-Gonvick School district in northwest Minnesota estimate they'll save about $140,000 annually by only offering classes four days a week next year. The district's school board approved the four-day week with a vote Tuesday night.

Class time that is lost from that fifth day is made up by making the four remaining school days longer.

Superintendent Al Ralston says the move won't solve all of the district's entire budget problems -- the budget is about $6 million -- but he says it does mean classes like foreign languages won't have to be cut.

"The school finance picture is not very bright anywhere in the state of Minnesota," said Ralston. "And this is the Band-Aid, or one of the things we're going to do, to hopefully aid us through this."

Clearbrook joins the ACGC district in west-central Minnesota and North Branch in the metro who have voted in recent months to go to four days next year.

Four other districts are already on the schedule this year, including Blackduck, which is about 40 miles east of Clearbrook. Blackduck recently got state approval to continue with its four-day schedule for another two years. The other districts currently using four days are MACCRAY, Warroad and Ogilvie.