Today is Monday and that means there's no class today at City Charter High School.
It's not a holiday, it's how their four-day school week is structured.
While many school districts around Pennsylvania are considering a four-day school week, City Charter High School has actually been doing it for four years.
But, while it means no classes on Monday, it does mean students do go to school year-round, with a three months on, one month off schedule.
CEO Dr. Dara Ware Allen says it takes first year students some adjustment when summer comes.
“It’s usually the most challenging for our 9th graders that have never been in school year-round, when we get to July, July more so than June because we go through the end July,” said Ware Allen.
Allen says they adopted the program in 2021 and started talking about it even before the pandemic as a new way of providing more flexibility for teachers and students alike.
A change in state law a few years ago allows Pennsylvania schools the option of adopting a four-day school week, so long as elementary school students get 900 hours of classroom instruction and 990 for secondary students.
Ware Allen says four years into it, it's working since students attend year-round.
She says faculty and staff say it gives them more of a work-life balance, and students like it too.
“You know having a little more autonomy and agency in terms of like how they spend their time in addition to going to school, by having that fifth day off,” said Ware Allen.
Get more information on City Charter here.