Florida should think more like Georgia, kids should have to miss school as part of their patriotic duty to conserve our nation's resources.

 

Georgia governor asks state's schools to close to save gas

 

 

(Atlanta, Georgia-AP) Sept. 23, 2005 - Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Friday asked the state's schools to take two "early snow days" and cancel classes Monday and Tuesday to help conserve gasoline as Hurricane Rita threatens the nation's fuel supply line.

 

If all of Georgia's schools close, the governor estimated about 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel would be saved each day by keeping buses off the road.

 

Perdue also said an undetermined amount of regular gasoline also would be saved by allowing teachers, other school staff and some parents to stay home. He says electricity also would be conserved by keeping the schools closed.

 

It's up to each school superintendent to decide whether to call off classes. The governor said, "If Georgians stick together, work together and conserve together we can weather whatever problems Rita brings our way with the least possible inconvenience."

 

As he did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Perdue asked the state's residents, and ordered government agencies, to limit nonessential travel and use commute alternatives including telecommuting, car pooling and four-day work weeks. He said if demand is reduced, "we will have enough market power to hold prices down. All together, we can influence demand within our state."

 

As prices spiraled after Hurricane Katrina, Perdue suspended the state's gas tax and the Legislature quickly approved the measure in a special session, saving motorists an estimated 15 cents per gallon. The tax is scheduled to return a week from Saturday.

 

All but four of the state's 181 school districts announced plans to comply with the governor's request. The exceptions were the Floyd County, Haralson County, Rome city and Thomasville city districts.

 

The governor made his request during a Friday afternoon conference call with the state's school superintendents. Many administrators were surprised and left scrambling to notify staff, faculty and parents of the cancellations because some schools had already finished classes for the day.

:mischief

Related Story from Kentucky:

 

This is great, let's give kids a crappier education because we can't build more oil refinaries.

Jackson schools' week cut to 4 days

 

WILL COST LESS; SOME SAY MOVE IS RUSHED

 

By Peter Mathews

 

CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU

 

 

McKEE -- Across Kentucky, school districts are cutting field trips, redrawing bus routes or curtailing athletic events to cope with rising fuel costs. But no one's making quite as dramatic a change as Jackson County.

 

Starting the week of Oct. 17, students will get every Friday off. Teachers will work half a day.

 

With the move, approved by the school board Sept. 5, Jackson becomes the fourth school district in the state to implement a four-day week, and the first to do so primarily for financial reasons.

 

It's probably not going to be the last. Brad Hughes, spokesman for the Kentucky School Boards Association, predicts the subject will be as hot a topic as year-round schools were a decade ago.

 

Jackson schools Superintendent Ralph Hoskins says most people have reacted favorably to the idea. But some school employees and parents question the speed with which the district is moving, and say they don't know nearly enough about how the plan will work.

 

Four-day school weeks aren't new; some rural districts in the mountains or deserts of the West have had them for 20 years or more. In Kentucky, the pioneer was Webster County, which made the change in 2003.

 

Three years ago, the Western Kentucky county faced a financial shortfall, looked at its tax base, which was flat at best, and considered closing an elementary school. But the school was a good performer on statewide tests, and the move wouldn't have been popular.

 

Instead, Webster found a similar district in East Grand, Colo., and spent a year studying its four-day week. Administrators realized a four-day week offered more planning time and training opportunities for teachers.

 

Not only do teachers and students love the shorter week, but the school has saved enough money to offer full-day kindergarten instead of half-days, Webster Superintendent James Kemp said.

 

In its first year, Webster saved more than $150,000 in transportation, overtime and workers' compensation costs and pay for substitute teachers. It saved an additional $167,000 by cutting a handful of jobs, eliminating some bus routes and making other cost-cutting measures.

 

The idea of saving 20 percent on fuel -- Jackson County buys 520 gallons of diesel a day -- is popular, especially in the rural West.

 

The Colorado Department of Education found that 80 percent to 90 percent of community members it surveyed liked the four-day week. In one town, a school board reverted to a five-day week shortly before an election, and voters replaced all of the board members.

 

Most districts extend the school day to make up for the lost time. Jackson will start schools 15 minutes earlier and end the day 45 minutes later.

 

Little comprehensive research has been done on whether children are helped or harmed academically by the change, but every school in Webster County has improved its statewide test scores since the change was made.

 

The free day gives teachers and students a chance to make doctor's appointments and get cars repaired. Schools also use the free days for faculty meetings, sports events and to make up snow days.

 

Educators say the most prominent worry is who will care for children of working parents. It was resolved in Webster by training high-school students to provide day care, and working with churches to provide facilities. Jackson plans to do the same thing.

 

Two small districts -- Providence Independent in Webster County and Jenkins Independent in Letcher County -- started the four-day week this fall. Jenkins Superintendent John Shook said administrators wanted to give teachers more planning time, and the system is working "beautifully."

 

But suspicion of the four-day week is running high in Jackson.

 

The school board approved the change on a 4-1 vote during a special meeting on Labor Day. Superintendent Hoskins said the meeting was held then to set a tax rate -- and that taxes went down slightly.

 

But some parents say that until that meeting, they had heard nothing about a four-day week. The district never sent home a questionnaire or made any effort to involve the community, said Jackie David, an opponent of the change.

 

The president of the county education association, Fred Tilsley, said this week that he still has no details of how the plan would work.

 

The Kentucky Education Association is concerned about whether teachers will have adequate classroom time to teach, and whether classified employees will be hurt by the changes, a spokesman said.

 

"It's hard enough to be a school bus driver; the pay's not that great as a rule," said Charles Main, director of communications for the KEA. "It would be a pretty big hit if they were to lose 20 percent of their income."

 

Advocates and critics agree that they want the best for students, even if they aren't sure about the change.

 

"If it helps children, I would be for it," said Tina Rose, detention supervisor at Jackson's middle school. "But when your staff is in an uproar and not for it, how's it going to help the kids?"

 

 

:banghead

Most districts extend the school day to make up for the lost time. Jackson will start schools 15 minutes earlier and end the day 45 minutes later.

 

Little comprehensive research has been done on whether children are helped or harmed academically by the change, but every school in Webster County has improved its statewide test scores since the change was made

Most districts extend the school day to make up for the lost time. Jackson will start schools 15 minutes earlier and end the day 45 minutes later.

That won't help if you're in High School and have 6 classes. It messes everything up.

This is nuts, I would have never thought the gas problem would amount to states actually messing with the school system

Did this ever happen during the gas crises in the 70s?

Did this ever happen during the gas crises in the 70s?

I don't remember school being cancelled (although they seem to rush to cancel it for anything these days,) but they did extend Daylight Saving Time an additional hour. That went over well. :thumbdown

Did this ever happen during the gas crises in the 70s?

I don't remember school being cancelled (although they seem to rush to cancel it for anything these days,) but they did extend Daylight Saving Time an additional hour. That went over well. :thumbdown

 

I don't remember them cancelling classes either. I don't think they did.

 

 

 

Hell- why don't we just home school everyone? Then we'll have glut of gas and energy.

 

 

 

 

:thumbup :thumbup :thumbup :thumbup

I had a 4-day week at Flanagan my freshman year.....it should die.

 

Extra long days, less class time to do learning, and more work to take home.

We should permanently close schools.

Chewbacca, whos going to build more oil refineries? The government aka the taxpayers or some evil corporation. The crises in oil are much more complex than simply producing more domestic and relying less on foreign sources.

We should permanently close schools.

 

 

 

 

:lol :lol :lol :lol

lol,,,hoo needz teh skool ne wayz..

In my county (in Kentucky)

 

there actually starting to debate about that.. theres an actual possibility that it might happen here..