PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia's schools chief said half-days are hurting attendance. So he plans to eliminate them next year.
"What we've learned is that half-days in the calendar do not serve us well,” said Superintendent Tony Watlington.
Attendance in Philly schools dipped sharply last month, compared to December 2024.
"This is a 12 percentage point decrease, the largest, I believe, I've seen in my tenure here," Watlington said.
He said the percentage of students in school 90% of the time fell from 66% a year ago to 54% last month. He told the school board Thursday night that a big reason was the half-days in the calendar. So he said next month, he'll move to do away with them.
"We will propose to this board — to you, board — a revised academic calendar for school year 26-27 that will eliminate half-days from our school calendars."
Not counting days for report card conferences, there are eight half days in next year's calendar.