Could a Four-Day School Week Keep Your Teachers? One District Is Finding Out
Most summers, Pennsylvania's Upper Darby School District welcomes a new class of 80 to 100 teachers.
This year, fewer than 30 showed up.
That gap is why Delaware County's largest district is now studying something that would have sounded unthinkable a few years ago: a four-day school week built around keeping teachers in the classroom. CBS News Philadelphia reported on the proposal, and it is a case study every district leader facing a staffing crunch should know.
The numbers behind the proposal
Upper Darby serves between 12,300 and 12,400 students across 13 schools. Superintendent Dan McGarry laid out the problem plainly:
Starting teacher salaries sit around $40,000. Paired with student loan debt, that makes recruiting difficult.
The district can't raise taxes as high as it might need to close the pay gap.
Typically, 80 to 100 new teachers are placed each summer. This year, fewer than 30 attended new teacher day.
"What's the encouraging factor to do this job, a very hard, challenging job?" McGarry asked. His bet is that a more flexible schedule could keep teachers in the district longer, even if the district can't win a salary race.
What the four-day model would actually look like
The plan isn't a three-day weekend. Here's the concept the district is exploring:
Students would get one day each week to work independently, either at school or at home.
Teachers would use that same day for professional development, lesson planning, and collaboration.
A 23-member Act 80 Exploration Committee made up of teachers, administrators, staff, and parents has been studying the idea for months. It is chaired by John Council, Assistant Superintendent of Recruitment, Retention and Culture. It's still unclear whether the schedule would apply to all 13 schools or only some of them.
The legal guardrails
Pennsylvania's Act 80 sets the floor any schedule has to meet. Schools must provide either 180 days of instruction or a minimum number of instructional hours:
450 hours for half-day pre-K and kindergarten
900 hours for full-day pre-K and kindergarten, and grades 1 through 6
990 hours for grades 7 through 12
The hours option is what makes a reconfigured week possible on paper. Making it work in practice is the harder part.
Why teachers are interested
Linda Fox, president of the Upper Darby Education Association, said a flexible schedule "would be wonderful for us." Teachers often don't have time during the school day to work one-on-one with students, research new curriculum, or collaborate with colleagues on what's happening in their classrooms. A dedicated planning day would give them that time back.
The complication: the fifth day lands on families
The same union president who welcomed the idea also named its biggest weakness. Fox said the district must think about special education students, English language learners, and immigrant families. "We have many families who do not have access to having an adult sit with their children on an asynchronous day," she said.
Parent Kaisha Desameau put a face on that concern. She's a full-time nurse whose 5-year-old daughter has autism and attends kindergarten in Upper Darby. Her worries:
Routine. A change in schedule could disrupt the structure her daughter relies on.
Childcare. "An off day for school doesn't give me an off day at work," she said. "I still have to go to work."
Academics. She fears her daughter could fall behind and wants to know how the district will keep students on track.
"I don't think this will be a good fit for the district and for the children," Desameau said, adding that the district "needs to express to parents how this will benefit us."
How the district is responding
Upper Darby isn't brushing those concerns aside:
Childcare options are on the table, including the YMCA, which already runs programs Upper Darby students attend and has long ties to the district. It could provide care on a Friday or Monday, possibly in district buildings.
Council pointed to several Midwest districts that have already adopted four-day weeks.
No decision has been made. The committee will keep researching and present its findings to the school board in March 2027. The next board meeting is October 13 at 7:30 p.m.
"At the end of the day, if it's not a good idea, we won't do it," McGarry said. Council echoed him: "We want what's best for our students."
What district leaders should take from this
Whether or not a four-day week is right for your community, Upper Darby's process offers a playbook for any big retention move.
Know your new-hire pipeline numbers. Upper Darby's case starts with one stark comparison: 80 to 100 new teachers in a typical summer versus fewer than 30 this year. If you can't state your own version of that number, start there.
Treat schedule and working conditions as retention levers. When pay can't move fast enough, time is one of the few things a district can give back. Ask your teachers what they would do with it.
Put the hard voices on the committee from day one. Upper Darby's 23-member group includes parents and teachers, not just administrators. That's how concerns like childcare and special education support get worked through before a plan is final, not after.
Solve childcare before you pitch the schedule. The fifth day is only as viable as the plan for kids whose families can't stay home. Line up community partners like the YMCA before asking families to say yes.
Check your state's instructional-time rules. Pennsylvania allows an hours-based option. Know exactly what your state requires before the idea goes public.
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Source & credit
This post summarizes and builds on "Upper Darby School District weighs 4-day schedule to address teacher turnover" by Madeleine Wright, a bilingual general assignment reporter for CBS News Philadelphia, published October 1, 2026. All figures, including Upper Darby's enrollment, school count, starting salaries, new-teacher numbers, committee details, timeline, and the Act 80 instructional requirements, and all quotes from Superintendent Dan McGarry, Linda Fox, Kaisha Desameau, and John Council come from her reporting. The guidance for district leaders is our own. Thank you to Madeleine Wright and CBS News Philadelphia for this coverage.
