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Students are heading back to school Thursday in one Georgia county, but their class model is drawing a lot of attention.
Chattooga County students have every Monday off for the entire school year – and school officials say the schedule is working.
Officials told WSB the four-day school week helps students and saves money.
The principal of Chattooga High School, where students are starting in a new building, says the school still goes the full amount of hours required each school year. They just pack them into fewer days.
"Yeah, I like it better than five days a week because you get Monday off, and it's not as stressful," said student T.J. Worsham.
Principal Jeff Martin says they've seen more time for learning, fewer absences for students and teachers and operating costs have dropped, while test scores have gone up.
"It has decreased our discipline, our attendance is good, teacher attendance as well. We keep, and we have a data room where we keep up with all that. We improved in six of the eight end of course test as of last year," Martin said.
No school on Mondays means longer days the rest of the week. But, according to one parent, it can keep kids focused.
"It's a very good stress reliever by only having that, getting that one extra day off makes a big difference, it seems,” said parent Steven Groves.
Chattooga schools saved almost $800,000 by going to a four-day week at the high school. That means they haven't had to let any teachers go and hired more as they open their new school.
The school starts at 7:40 a.m. and lets out at 3:45 p.m.
