KILLDEER - Lemmon, S.D., is sweet on a four-day school week, and the school staff says they teach better and students are getting smarter because of it.

Eight of Lemmon's staff and one board member traveled to Killdeer on Wednesday night to talk about how the different school week has worked for them the past three years.

They said student test scores are up, students and teachers are happier, and even downtown Lemmon businesses think it's spurred more local shopping.

Killdeer's school board is contemplating making the change for 2006-07 and has set a March 1 deadline to make a decision.

Schools that want to change the school week have to make an application to the Department of Public Instruction in March. Schools must demonstrate an educational benefit for students in those applications.

About 150 people from Killdeer came to the informational meeting at the school. They listened to the idea and had a few questions for Lemmon and for their own school board.

Almont is so far the only school in the state with a four-day school week. It's also an elementary school only, unlike Killdeer with a K-12 operation and students coming in from outlying districts.

Killdeer's School Board President Greg Steckler said the four-day week will be tried on a trial basis, if at all.

If it works, it would continue; if not, the schedule would go back to five days, he said.

"The only way to see how something works is to try it," Steckler said.

School representatives from Beach, Mott, Richardton and New England also were there to listen.

While the Killdeer board seems receptive to exploring the idea of a four-day week, parents are still not so sure.

There's worry that rural students will be hardest hit.

They'd have to get on buses earlier and get home later. Long days would get even longer, especially for students who want to play basketball or be in other after-school activities.

Susie Knopick has nine children in school and lives 27 miles from school. She has to drive her kids five miles to meet the bus.

One of her children needs some extra help. To get that help on Fridays, when school is not in session, but teachers are in for tutoring and preparation, means she'd have to drive the whole distance, plus wait in town.

"I don't see how this benefits country people," she said.

Another rural mom had the same concerns and said, "We're a Monday through Friday society, and everything is Monday through Friday. Why Killdeer, right now?"

Two other moms, DeAnn Zander and Brenda Synnes, said they liked what they heard from Lemmon.

Synnes said the test scores were impressive and a longer school day, with Fridays off for her kids, would sync with her in-home daycare.

Zander said she came to the meeting against the idea, but, "The more I listen, the more I like it."

After two years, a survey of Lemmon parents and students found 75 percent of respondents favored the four-day week.

High school math teacher Rich Greff said he gets more time with students because of longer class periods and a lot of time with them Fridays.

Staff is at school every other Friday at Lemmon, but he said nearly everyone is there every Friday morning to help kids and prepare for the following week.

"If we had to go back, we'd have a big fight on our hands with students, teachers and parents, as well," he said.

Linda O'Donnell, a junior high teacher at Lemmon, said it's a matter of trust. She said the school board had to trust that teachers would make the best use of their time, especially on Fridays.

She said it wasn't popular at first, partly because teachers only work nine months anyway and being scheduled to work every other Friday seemed over the top.

Most teachers work every Friday, but the tutoring and preparation time means students and teachers are ready for Monday.

For her, the proof was in the pudding. When the test scores came out and Lemmon's kids continued to exceed the previous year's performance, that clinched the deal, she said.

At Lemmon, Fridays are also used for meetings of school clubs and organizations and for athletic practices.

Lemmon superintendent Rick Herbel said the school has saved about $30,000 in substitute teacher pay, transportation without buses running Fridays and food with no open cafeteria that day, either.

Steckler said the board would continue to talk about the idea. He said the board would decide if it will make the call, or if school patrons would get to cast a vote on the matter.