NORTH COLLEGE HILL, Ohio — An Ohio public school district is changing the school week. Students in North College Hill near Cincinnati will only have class four days per week. It’s the first public school district in the state to try shorter weeks.

What You Need To Know

  • North College Hill Public School district will start this school year with four-day school weeks

  • There will be no class on Mondays, students will complete homework online and teachers will have planning days
  • For child care needs, the district is opening up for students in Kindergarten through eighth grade

Eugene Blalock Jr. is getting his first-day-of-school presentation ready. He’s the superintendent for North College Hill Public Schools near Cincinnati. This year his schools will be the first public school district in the state to switch to a four-day school week.

It's an effort to keep teachers in the classroom, he said.

“Our teachers were struggling, mentally, physically, not coming to work, absenteeism was extremely high and it was basically because of burnout,” Blalock said.

It’s taken months to figure out how to make the shortened schedule work, but he said they have a plan.

There will be no class on Mondays, but teachers will be doing a different kind of work.

“All certified teachers will be using that time for planning and collaboration, and professional development opportunities,” he said.

Students will still be expected to do school work, too, but they’ll work online on their own on Mondays.

“It would be just like homework," he said. "When you send homework home, you’re not sending new work, you’re sending work for students to review."

Parents won’t be expected to become the teacher on Mondays, he said.

“We’re not asking parents to teach their kids. We’re not asking parents to do direct instruction. We’re asking parents just to support what their kids are doing and supervise,” Blalock said.

If parents can’t do that, the district plans to open the schools to kids in eighth grade or younger for child care, but it won’t be teachers watching them on Mondays.

“Everyone else who is not a certified teacher — those individuals are the staff we will use to support our students,” he said.

When students come back to class Tuesday through Friday, the school days will be the same.

“It doesn’t affect the minimum hours that we have within the classroom, so we don’t have to extend the day or extend the school year,” Blalock said.

It all goes into effect on Thursday, Aug. 17, the first day of school in a four-day week.

The district plans to have a four-day week for at least the next three years and will continue based on how well the plan works, he said.

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