About this series
The four-day school schedule was once an anomaly, restricted to rural schools in Idaho and other Western states. This fall, nearly 100,000 Idaho students will attend a four-day school. And the Nampa School District is the largest Idaho district to adopt the schedule. A a year ago this week, a divided board of trustees voted to make the change. Idaho EdNews senior reporter Kevin Richert will spend the 2024-25 school year taking an in-depth look at the four-day phenomenon — and how it affects students, taxpayers and communities. Share your comments, questions and story ideas via email: krichert@idahoednews.org.
It was near the end of fourth period, and John Crabill’s internal clock was ticking.
Eight minutes left. Enough time — after a discussion running the gamut from economics to nationalism — to touch on military strength as a factor in imperialism.
For Crabill, a history teacher at Nampa’s Skyview High School, time is finite — carved into increments of 71-minute class periods, crammed into a four-day weekly schedule. More classroom hours, as district officials note, but the time is packed into fewer school days…