Recently, the U.S. Postal Service says it was considering cutting delivery service one day a week to save money. Now, a school district in Arizona is not only considering a plan like that-it is going to four days a week instead of five. It's a move that is hard to digest.

 The school district (The Bisbee Unified School District) says cutting back on school days will save it 500,000 dollars a  year.  The district is also thinking about closing its middle school as a way to offset laying off teachers. But what about the cost to students in the long run? 

 It is the first time I've heard of this type of cost cutting measure, but once the ball gets rolling, its hard to stop it. Will other districts see this as a solution to their budget woes?

Are teachers now going to have to double up and teach more than one grade? What kind of discussions do we need to start having to figure out how to balance getting a quality education for our kids and paying for a quality education for kids? It seems to me we should be including a lot of folks in this discussion-educators, the business community, etc. Cutting the school week to save money gets a F from me.  What's your opinion?

   Elaine