{"id":305014,"date":"2026-10-12T11:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T11:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/305014\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T11:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T11:40:08","slug":"4-day-class-weeks-in-upper-darby-schools-are-under-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/305014\/","title":{"rendered":"4-day class weeks in Upper Darby schools are under study"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Upper Darby School District<\/a> committee considering a four-day class week has raised questions, and doubts.<\/p>\n

In August, the district\u2019s Act 80 exploration committee<\/a> presented its findings to the school board. The committee is led by Dr. John I. Council, assistant superintendent of Recruitment, Retention and Culture.<\/p>\n

An early-October media report<\/a> revived concerns.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Dr. Dan McGarry said discussions are in the early stages as the committee explores scheduling ideas intended to benefit students, family and staff. Its members are not looking at reducing the instructional time a student is taught over the course of a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is really no set definite plan at this point,\u201d the superintendent said. \u201cDr. Council and the committee are back at work exploring one of the options, which they think is the only viable option. Considering what it would take to pull that off, if it is even possible to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee of more than 20 staff members, administrators and parents has held other meetings this year as it works to boost teacher recruitment and retention.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a hard profession, being a classroom teacher in general education and special education is very challenging,\u201d McGarry said, noting particular issues with lack of preparation time and a shortage of substitute teachers.<\/p>\n

Other issues include demands outside the classroom from grading papers to communicating with students\u2019 families, professional development and unfunded government mandates on schools.<\/p>\n

\"UpperUpper Darby School District Superintendent Dr. Daniel McGarry (COURTESY UPPER DARBY SCHOOL DISTRICT)
\nHow idea started<\/p>\n

In August, Council said 2023 changes in the state school code allowed for more flexibility in the school calendar.<\/p>\n

State requirements include 180 school days with a minimum of 450 hours for half-time pre-K and kindergarten; 900 hours for pre K, kindergarten and elementary grades 1 to 6; and 900 hours for grades 7 to 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe changes in the school code do not reduce instructional time,\u201d Council said. \u201cInstead it provides opportunities to redesign schedules to improve student learning, staff sustainability, recruitment, retention and operational efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGarry said they are looking to provide more consistency and reduce the number of half-days, in-service days and early dismissals that can interrupt education.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we could take that time, and the time we typically have for in-service days and try to make a more consistent calendar that would benefit staff, students and families in a more consistent four-day week, if possible, then we would,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we would not do is reduce instructional time.\u201d<\/p>\n

How it might work<\/p>\n

The superintendent said they would work within the calendar. If there were a holiday on a Monday, that would be the off day for the week. The week would not be reduced to three days.<\/p>\n

Teachers union president Dr. Linda Fox, a language teacher, said any change must protect core instructional time and keep academic achievement and equity at the center. It would need to include special education classes from the start.<\/p>\n

Concerns were raised over families\u2019 ability to provide child care during the off day.<\/p>\n

Council said the four-day school week being explored has a modified fifth day that brings in hybrid models, intervention and enrichment days. The fifth day would most likely be scheduled for asynchronous work but could be in person for certain requirements.<\/p>\n

Council said the school calendar is already built with days for professional learning, early dismissals, remote learning and teacher collaboration.<\/p>\n

The idea is to leverage opportunities to make sure students are learning five days a week, using the fifth day for things like making up work, having office hours with teachers or small-group intervention hours.<\/p>\n

McGarry said this can provide staff \u201can opportunity to take a deep breath, look at the data, look at what students need and improve their instructional practices, which is becoming harder and harder to do during the typical school day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research by the committee indicated the impact of alternative schedules is dependent heavily on environmental factors in each district.<\/p>\n

Would it help?<\/p>\n

A 2021 Rand Corp. study found improved student attendance and behavioral and emotional well-being, a better climate in schools and no significant differences in sleep, fatigue and student achievement. A 2022 national study found test scores in math and language dipped at some schools but did not change for others that went to a 4-day schedule.<\/p>\n

A third study found that for older students shortened schedules can lead to calmer and safer schools and had no detectable effect on attendance or standardized test scores.<\/p>\n

The committee believes proper implementation is the key.<\/p>\n

Outside entities such as the Delaware County Intermediate Unit, private schools, dual enrollment and vo-tech would not change.<\/p>\n

Asked about year-round schooling, McGarry said that idea has never gained any traction or interest in the district.<\/p>\n

McGarry said the board deserves credit for considering the idea and gathering information.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe owe it to our teachers and professionals to explore ideas when they come up and we are doing so in a professional, transparent way,\u201d McGarry said. \u201cWhen there are opportunities to bring up questions and concerns we will do so in public.\u201d<\/p>\n

The superintendent welcomed anyone who wants to be part of the committee to get involved.<\/p>\n

In August, school board President Desiree\u2019 Murphy Morrissey said her research found that other districts that enacted a four-day schedule did not achieve improved employee attendance unless they made the off day in the middle of the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they made it Friday or Monday \u2026 the people, you know who are the bad actors, would make it an extended vacation and it caused actually a student decline in performance because teachers weren\u2019t available on those other days,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n

At that same meeting board member Donald Fields said the move involves tough logistics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Upper Darby School District committee considering a four-day class week has raised questions, and doubts. In August,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[212,182,139,28,210,147,149,148,150],"class_list":["post-305014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upper-darby","tag-delaware-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-top-stories-dtd","tag-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby-headlines","tag-upper-darby-news","tag-upper-darby-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}