"This year has been basically interruption-free," writes Rich High teacher Weston Taylor. "Busy work became a thing of the past, and I interacted with the students because they were basically all in class expecting to learn something each day. In my opinion, the four-day week has drastically improved my ability to do my job."

School is held 155 days, but students get in 1,015 hours. Classes are held on Fridays to offset Monday holidays, like Labor Day and Presidents Day.

And if you look at it in terms of activities, in which 90 percent of students are involved at some point, Lamborn says, students and coaches sometimes have five- or six-day workweeks.

"When students participate at a level ours are, Fridays aren't off, anyway," Lamborn said. "They're either playing, or they're on a bus going to play. It's not like they're at the mall skateboarding, because there isn't a mall."

The district must report to the State Board of Education on the program every year. The board asked to see comparative test scores in next year's report. "That would give us more to look at," board member Richard Sadler said.

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com