Philly schools to consider a return to a post-Labor Day start for 2023-24 academic year

Philadelphia students will start the school year after Labor Day for the 2023-24 school year — after five years of a pre-holiday start — if the school board passes the proposed calendar next week.

Teachers will return to school Aug. 29 under the calendar, and students are due back Sept. 5, the Tuesday after Labor Day. The last day of school for students and staff would be June 14, with the last two days as half-days for students.

Spring break would be March 25 through 29.

The September start date is a shift — this school year Philadelphia students came back from summer break prior to Labor Day.

Officials said the changes came after the board agreed to a new policy around calendar adoption focusing on academics, equity, and community engagement, as well as adherence to Pennsylvania Department of Education requirements and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers contract. And they came after two committees, 18 feedback sessions, and a survey with nearly 4,000 respondents.

Parents and staff were consistent in their feedback, officials said in board documents: A post-Labor Day start is preferred, in part because of the heat-related closures forced at some schools that have no building-wide air-conditioning.

“These closures exacerbate inequities between schools that have air-conditioning and those that do not,” the documents said. Officials also cited the “headaches, lack of attention and general frustration” in hot buildings during the first few days of school, and how a later start date could lead to stronger attendance for the first weeks of school.

“Whenever possible, we will aim to start school after Labor Day in future calendars,” the board documents read.

However, the board will also consider a tentative 2024-25 calendar next week, which would shift back to an August start for teachers and students, with teachers back on Aug. 20, 2024, and students returning Aug. 26.

The August start comes because of requirements for 181 school days and a calendar quirk that prevents the district from bringing students back after Labor Day while still maintaining winter and spring recesses.

“In order to meet these requirements and maintain much-needed breaks for students and staff, the collective decision is to start school before Labor Day in SY24/25,” the board documents said.

Philadelphia has typically given students a day off for the October holiday initially celebrated as Columbus Day, then shifted to Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Students and staff will no longer have that day off.

“An in-school day of learning allows for true celebration of this day. ... We have spoken to indigenous leaders from Indigenous Peoples Day Philly, who have expressed interest in collaborating and supporting the district with celebrations for this day,” the board said.

For 2023-24, students will have off for Lunar New Year but not for Diwali.

“We continue to be committed to making our district as inclusive as possible. Numerous responses to our survey and in-person community feedback sessions noted the importance of ensuring our large population of Asian communities are represented in the calendar,” the board said.

However, officials said Diwali can no longer be included because a smaller population of students and staff celebrates the holiday in comparison with other holidays.

Diwali “will be an in-school day of learning where we still hope to honor the day and populations that practice. This day will be considered for holiday observation in future calendars as our constraints shift with the movement of where other dates fall in future calendar years,” the board documents said.

Veterans Day will also be an in-school day, with opportunities for students to learn about veterans’ contributions, and Eid al-Adha will be a day off on June 6, 2025.

Staff development days are changing, too. Instead of a full week before school begins, which some people told the district felt “taxing and overwhelming,” school-based staff will have three days in their buildings before students return.

There will be five half-days, instead of 10, for teacher training, in part because families cited the difficulty of finding child care on teacher-training days. Half-days generally feel rushed, staff said, and student attendance is typically low.

“As a result we are reducing the number of half-days to minimize these challenges, while still ensuring time is reserved on the calendar for needed professional development,” the board documents said.

Parents said half-day report card conferences were difficult to manage — both for child care and work schedules; so the traditional three half-days for the first report period conferences are disappearing, and the second- and third-marking period conferences will now have two half-days instead of three.

Families and staff will get a longer winter break in 2024-25 because Christmas falls midweek. Students will have Dec. 23-Jan. 2 off “in anticipation of low student and staff attendance” if students were required to attend Monday, Dec. 23.

The day before Thanksgiving break will also be a half-day, because students and staff asked for time to travel for the holiday. Attendance on that day is also typically low, officials said.

The school board is scheduled to vote on both 2023-24 and 2024-25 calendars at its Feb. 23 meeting.