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School district considers four-day school week to get, keep teachers

LAKE CITY, S.C. — Officials in a South Carolina school district have come up with a plan that may help ease the teacher shortage it is facing.

It could also mean a long weekend for students.

Right now Florence County School District 3 has 43 vacancies, but it is fewer than a year ago.

One way the superintendent has come up with takes a page out of other district’s year plans -- adopting a four-day work week.

"There's districts all across the state that have tried this because recruitment and retention is not just a South Carolina problem, but it's a national problem," Superintendent Laura Hickson told Morning News of Florence.

But teachers and students will make up the time lost while not in school on that extra day.

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If students are performing well in class and meeting standards, they will have Fridays off, but school days the rest of the week will be longer -- about one and a half hours longer each day, the newspaper reported.

As for students who are having trouble, they will have academic assistance opportunities on the first and third Fridays every month. Second Friday would be left for teachers' professional development that would be conducted either in person or online. The fourth Friday would be a day off for everyone, the Morning News reported.

The plan hasn’t been adopted yet. Parents and staff could weigh in about the idea soon.