Hello,

I am a current student at Fayetteville High School.  After hearing from my fellow students I made a decision to start a petition for a goal that they have not been able to voice.  This common goal we, the students, are working toward would give us more time to complete work and succeed in our classes.  As students we have agreed that having Fridays to finish our work and study would help us to flourish in our classes.

This petition quickly grew and currently has over a thousand signatures.  I have been able to help voice the concerns and ideas of my peers.  Understandably one is quick to wonder, how would this affect grades?  Fayetteville would certainly not be one of the first schools implementing at home learning time on Fridays.  Many schools across the nation already don’t have students attending school on Fridays.  Even in Arkansas there has been success regarding virtual Fridays.  Little Rock schools have shown the benefits of virtual Fridays.

I understand that a change to the current schedule could cause some controversy but wouldn’t it add to the flexibility that students and all people need?  We are given two days for the weekend.  But is the weekend supposed to be a break or a time for work?  When a student’s free time is always filled it causes a strain that I along with my fellow students have experienced.  It’s easy to feel overwhelmed without a healthy balance between time for being a person and time for being a student.  Should we really have to trade our limited free time to do homework?  

One of the biggest factors this change could have would be costs.  The costs for the school district would be so much lower.  With less transportation and energy usage we could cut down on the amount of money that the school has to spend.  Morale of teachers and students would be higher with more flexibility in schedules, leading to higher attendance overall.