Elko County considers 4-day week for 3 rural schools

Elko County is considering going to a four-day school week at three small, rural schools.
   
The school board is scheduled to vote Tuesday night on the shorter week for one-room schoolhouses in Independence Valley, Mound Valley and Ruby Valley.
   
Board trustees voted last month to create a committee to study the possible impacts on students, faculty and families in the area.
   
Schools Superintendent Jeff Zander told the Elko Daily Free Press none of schoolhouses has buses. He says parents in Independence Valley have to travel 100 miles roundtrip to get their kids to school.
   
Under the new plan, teachers and students would spend the same number of hours in class each week.
   
Bus drivers would work one day a week as classroom teaching aides to make up for the lost hours on the road.