PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Mayor Cherelle Parker unveiled Thursday the next phase of her administration’s plan to introduce year-round schooling in Philadelphia’s public schools, a key element of Parker’s election campaign and 100-day action plan.
Speaking at City Hall Thursday, along with the Superintendent of the Philadelphia School District Tony Watlington and other public and charter school officials discussed Mayor Parker’s “Full Day Full Year” initiative, which would extend school hours and programming and increase the number of days students spend in school year-round.
“Today we are announcing that we will be piloting this fall… 25 pilots with extended days and extended year schools,” Parker said.
The mayor said the initiative will help close the opportunity gap facing Philadelphia students and prevent students from forgetting what they learned during the summer months throughout the year.
The district said schools in the program will be open “with programming and specialized enrichment five days a week and for six weeks in the summer, between 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.” and that this program is aimed at students in the lower grades. K-8.
Speaking to Watlington and other educators, the mayor assured families, students and stakeholders that extended day schooling will not keep children at their desks, in classrooms, for hours on end.
“We keep them safe. We keep them involved in productive activities, things they need to do when the traditional school day ends,” she said.
Parker also emphasized that the extended school day pilot program will not change the upcoming school year’s calendar and that student participation is not mandatory.
These are the schools participating in the extended day and extended year trial program
The following 25 schools, 20 Philadelphia public schools and five charter schools will be included in the extended day/extended year pilot program:
- B. Anderson Elementary School
- Belmont Charter School
- Laura H. Carnell Elementary School
- George W. Childs Elementary School
- William Cramp Primary School
- Franklin S. Edmonds Elementary School
- Louis H. Farrell Elementary School
- Edward Gideon Primary School
- Samuel Gompers primary school
- Joseph Greenberg Elementary School
- Juniata Park Academy
- Alain Locke Primary School
- Mastery Charter School – Pickett Campus
- Thomas G. Morton Elementary School
- Northwood Academy Charter School
- Overbrook Educational School
- Pan American Academy Charter School
- Thomas M. Peirce Elementary School
- Joseph Pennell Elementary School
- Southwark School
- Solomon Solis-Cohen Primary School
- Universal Creighton Charter School
- Vare-Washington Elementary School
- John H. Webster Elementary School
- Richard R. Wright Elementary School
Following the mayor’s announcement, Arthur Steinberg, president-elect of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said in a statement: “The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers has asked Superintendent Watlington’s administration for more information about the pilot and its potential impact on our members . While we await direct communication from the District, we plan to share more information with our members in the very near future.”
“Research shows us that an extended day and an extended year, combined with highly qualified and well-supported teachers, highly qualified and well-supported principals… and if we build an equal partnership with parents, there is nothing we can do but rise and improve performance,” Watlington said Thursday.
In April, Watlington told Philadelphia council members that he and the mayor would initially consider 20 schools for inclusion in the pilot program for the 2024-2025 school year.
“For year one we want to expand before and after school and add some enrichment activities,” Watlington said. “The mayor has been very clear that we need to have state-of-the-art chess and STEM and robotics, the things that expand reading, math, science, but that are also fun and engaging and that give our kids. Things where they really interested in.”
Watlington further told the council that the district would work on expanded summer programming after the first year. Then, for the 2025-2026 school year, the district would work to expand the full school year calendar.
“We’re eliminating the long break in the summer, but they’re getting breaks during the year,” he said. “So they don’t go to school 365 days or 300 days a year. They have holidays and there are small breaks built in.”
Earlier this month, the City Council gave preliminary approval to Parker’s ‘One Philly’ budget of $6.3 billionincluding $239 million for its education priorities.
That funding includes support for extended day and “extended year enrichment” opportunities. Parker has also said she plans to invest in modernizing the city’s schools.
The mayor and a coalition of leaders, including public and charter school leaders, lawmakers and union heads, met in June expressing support for a Pennsylvania House bill that would inject $5.1 billion in new state funding into schools across the Commonwealth over seven years. Philadelphia’s public schools would receive $1.4 billion during that time and $242 million in new money for the coming school year.
At the time, Watlington said the money would be “significant” and help the district fund a variety of areas. House Bill 2370 passed 107-94, but faces an uncertain future in the Republican Party-controlled Senate.
