A Catholic high school in Sidney, Ohio is dropping one day a week. Lehman Catholic High School announced on its website and in a YouTube video that it is moving from a five-day to a four-day school week, with Mondays off.
In a statement, the school said the decision was "grounded in thoughtful research, prayerful discernment, and the success of other Catholic schools using this model." It is a notable move, because the four-day week has spread mostly through rural public districts, not private Catholic high schools.
Why the School Says It Is Doing This
In the video, Principal Brad Zimmerman framed the change around two groups: students and teachers. The free Mondays, he said, would give students time outside the classroom for college or career preparation, tutoring, or even real experience in the workforce. For staff, he said it offers more work-life balance.
He was blunt about the reason on the teacher side. "Obviously we're all here to serve the kids," he said in the video. "I recognize that teacher burnout is real, but if I make sure that our teachers have what they need, not only in the classroom but outside of the classroom, because we have some amazing teachers in the building, and we don't want to burn them out."
That candor about burnout is worth noting. It is the same reason a lot of small districts around the country now give for the switch. A guaranteed day off is something a small school can offer its staff even when it cannot compete on salary, and in a tight market for teachers, that matters.
What Students Would Do With Mondays
Zimmerman spent much of the video on the opportunities he says the off day opens up, from job shadowing to tutoring to enrichment. "So many wonderful opportunities that it provides to us, I think that will make our Lehman community one that is healthier and vibrant," he said. "Just bringing that spirit back alive, and this will give us that chance to bring that out."
For a high school specifically, that pitch has more room to land than it would at an elementary school. Teenagers can drive to a job, sit for a tutoring session, or shadow a professional in a way a second-grader cannot. The families most squeezed by a four-day switch are usually the ones with young children who need supervision and, in many public districts, a school meal. Those pressures are lighter at a small Catholic high school, though not zero. Any family with a student who needs structure, transportation, or a place to be on Mondays still has to answer the same practical question: who covers the fifth day.
A Small School Joining a Growing Trend
Lehman is a small piece of a much larger shift. Hundreds of school districts across roughly two dozen states now run four-day weeks, and the number climbs every year. Most of that growth has come from rural public systems looking to save on transportation and to recruit teachers. A private Catholic high school adopting the same calendar, and grounding it in both faith and staff wellbeing, shows how far the idea has traveled from its rural cost-cutting origins.
What the national research suggests is that the details will matter more than the headline. Four-day weeks tend to work out best when schools protect their total instructional time and put real thought into what happens on the off day. For a college-prep high school betting that Mondays will become productive time rather than lost time, that is the whole ballgame. As reported by Spectrum News 1, Lehman plans to make the switch with that enrichment promise front and center.
Sources
Spectrum News 1: Ohio school moves from five days a week to four days
