North Harford juniors Giavanni Barbarino and Michael Allen, have started a petition to bring attention to student’s desire for a four-day week with Friday reverting back to the asynchronous format used in the 2021 school year. 

   “This is something we are very passionate about, we’d like to make a change and we’re doing what we see fit to try and get it,” stated Barbarino.  The eleventh grader said, “We have gained some traction with our petition but not as much as hoped; we’re looking to make county-wide changes by the end of this thing.”

     As of March 9, the petition has accumulated over 300 signatures with Barbarino noting “our growth has been exponential so far;  we have continued to reach new goals each week and it strikes new confidence in you.”  He adds “it makes you want to keep going. I don’t want to let down my people.”      

       Allen stated “our numbers look minute now, but we have only taken  it to North Harford High, we haven’t breached the middle school let alone another school.  Once we get the ball rolling, there is no stopping us, we just haven’t quite gotten there yet.”

        Barbarino adds “if we could show that an asynchronous day has been helpful towards their[students] learning experience, I truly believe we could get somewhere with this.”   Barbarino commented that they “want to start with North Harford;  if we can get somewhere with Mr. Pawlicki, we gain traction towards the higher ups. It all starts with us here at school.”

     Evidence from Paul Thompson and Emily Morton from Brookings Institution states that in the spring before the COVID-19 pandemic, 662 districts were using the four-day week  schedule across 24 states, an increase of over 600% since 1999. 

University of Chicago) and Sage Journalism research finds “minimal impacts of the four-day school week on overall cost savings.”  However, this same research suggests that four-day school weeks “may allow school districts greater resource flexibility in the wake of budget shortfalls. The four-day school week may also be used as a form of non-monetary compensation to facilitate instructional cost reductions, as research finds that teachers generally prefer it,” according to Brookings.

     As for teachers at North Harford, the common consensus is that teachers want their Fridays back too, Technology teacher Mr. Brian Doughtery and Business teacher Mr. Eugene Liebel both agree that an asynchronous day would be a great addition.  Dougherty adds “you could even get situations with teachers coming to school on the free day and students who are failing classes show up like a normal day using self transportation, that would be an incentive to pass your classes.” 

    Barbarino states “Getting teachers on board is a great way to show the principals and the board of directors that this isn’t just students wanting an extra day.”