Sometimes I am asked about why we need the Wednesday half days for professional learning.
Parents ask questions like:
Why does the district disrupt my schedule on certain Wednesdays requiring me to figure out what to do with my child?
When I was in school I never had half days for my teachers to work on PD. Why do they need it now?
What actually happens on those half days that can’t happen at another time so my student can stay in school and I won’t need to worry about childcare?
Can’t you do all of the professional development in the summer before school starts?
What about all the kids who are roaming around in the center of Town causing problems on half days?
All these questions are fair to ask!
We use the early release schedule to provide time for all teachers, instructional aides and administrators to get together to work on developing curriculum, discuss student assessments, and attend to their professional learning. Given that teachers are typically scheduled with students the entire school day, there is then no other time for them to receive training, new updates, revise curriculum, and discuss and plan for district initiatives. For example, we are in the middle of a three year effort to identify a new literacy curriculum at the elementary level. Teachers and administrators need time to sit down together to assess the pilot, discuss options, and review student assessments and work. It simply is not possible to do this during the school day when children are present. Teachers do have meetings and professional learning time and hours after the students have left for the school day, but it's not possible to conduct all of their work after 2:30 or 3:00 p.m.
Many teachers are working after hours to tackle school responsibilities (e.g., planning tomorrow’s lesson, coaching, running a club activity) and we have a significant number who participate in training over the summer. But we still need the additional time to address the needs of our staff so they, in turn, can be more responsive to the needs of our students. Teaching and learning has only gotten more complicated than it was, for example, when I was a teacher. When I taught in the 1980s it was mostly a solitary experience. I was never expected to work or collaborate with other teachers; I was just given a text book and told to do my best. Federal and state mandates, which I did not have to contend with as a teacher, are now more pronounced and intrusive, requiring even more attention to collaborative work, planning and discussion among educators. Over time we have recognized the need, and the power, of teachers working together to improve learning. I'd like to think that the way we structure early release days and professional work and learning for our staff, while imperfect, is one of the reasons our district has been recognized for significant growth and success in the last few years.
I know the disruption is sometimes challenging for parents who are struggling to plan their work week, etc. One of the things we have done in recent years is to reduce the total number of early release days, especially at the middle school level, as a response to families and childcare issues. We are constantly considering new and alternative ways to work (e.g., we use some virtual learning and meeting time) to ensure students receive the education they deserve, and we try to avoid disrupting the schedule as much as possible. We also have been working with business and shop owners to address some of their concerns about student behavior in their stores. The middle school principals are very clear with students about what is expected, and I hope parents are also letting their children understand their expectations for respectful and appropriate behavior. For sure, it is important for young adolescents to have some independence and demonstrate good decision making when they are away from their parents and teachers.
Each new calendar year presents challenges with religious holidays, late (or early Labor Days), Federal elections, snow days, etc. I try to ensure we start before Labor Day but end by mid June with as few disruptions as possible. We also do not want to stack early release days back to back, and we try to have as many full, five day weeks as we can. This January (2026) we faced the challenge of needing two early release days but recognizing we would bump up against February and the February break. Ultimately, we decided to schedule just one early release day in February to help balance things out. Believe me, there was much discussion about the January 2026 schedule among staff, parent leaders, and School Committee members before we decided on the calendar plan. For sure: The academic calendar is imperfect at best and in my 20 years of experience as Needham's superintendent has never satisfied all constituents.
Nonetheless, we will keep trying to ensure we can deliver a quality program to our students - one they deserve and parents expect - while also attending to the increasing and varied responsibilities our educators have.
