From February 14-17, PDS students and faculty had four days off from school for Presidents’ Day weekend, giving all members of the Day School a much-needed break. During the week before the break, students were extremely busy with many assessments, projects, and papers due within these few days. Although the workload was overwhelming for many, everyone worked hard and pushed through the stress, as they knew the four day weekend would come soon after. During the four day weekend, students and teachers had time to spend with their families, catch up on sleep and participate in their respective extracurricular activities. With four days to complete schoolwork and many teachers not assigning anything for the coming Tuesday, academics did not completely take over the days off from school, allowing for students to enjoy their time off.

Since only positive results came from the four day weekend, many believe that having more four day weekends throughout the school year would prove to be beneficial for not only students but also teachers. As the workload would have to remain the same each week, students would have more homework to complete over the long weekend, giving them more independence to manage their respective workloads. Teachers may even start to see better results on tests and assessments given after four day weekends since many students choose to study for tests and work on big projects primarily over weekends. Moreover, class time would be used much more efficiently as students would be well-rested from the four days of sleeping late. Students would be much more attentive and able to complete activities much faster and with more effort if they were to only have three days of school per week. Although this plan seems logical with so many advantages, there are some setbacks for having so little school hours. 

With only three days of school and regular 8:00-3:20 school days, classes would be forced to rush through lectures, activities, and demonstrations. Even though students can study, read, and work on assignments at home, class time cannot necessarily be replaced with textbooks and youtube videos. Teachers help students to learn the required material both in class and outside of class during one-on-one meetings. With a three day school week, class time and meeting frequency would be extremely limited, preventing those who need help outside of class from succeeding. Furthermore, Advanced Placement (AP) classes are required to teach material provided by the College Board. These classes follow a nationwide schedule and must use class time extremely efficiently. If a three day week were implemented, these AP classes would fall behind schedule, and students would be forced to seek help outside of school. All classes would be affected greatly by a lack of class time, and not all classes would be able to make up for the lost time by assigning extra homework. 

In the end, it is clear that four day weekends are enjoyable every few months, but having too many would show produce significant negative impacts in academic performances all around PDS.