The president of the largest labor union in the United States, the National Education Association, is praising the four-day school week.  The union’s president was in Polk County this week, where they have implemented the four-day school week with schools being closed on Monday.  That’s the same calendar that has been adopted by the Chattooga Board of Education.

The Chattooga Board of Education voted this year to return to a four-day calendar.  Chattooga County’s schools have been on the five-day calendar for several years, after being on the four-day calendar for over a decade.

Betty Pringle, the president of the National Education Association, visited Cedartown Middle School on Tuesday as part of her national “Joy, Justice and Excellence” tour. She was accompanied by Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, while speaking to faculty and visiting the students in classrooms.

Pringle said of the four-day school week, “This is a tangible solution. And what I love about it is everyone came together. Like one of our teachers said, we’re not here to babysit the kids. We are here to teach them. And if this works better for them so that the educators are ready and prepared to teach them, it works for everyone,”

Pringle said that she is going to carry the message of the four-day school week to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.