PRINTER'S NO. 290
No. 258 Session of 2007
INTRODUCED BY GODSHALL, BUXTON, CALTAGIRONE, CAPPELLI, COSTA,
DALEY, DeLUCA, DERMODY, FRANKEL, FREEMAN, HENNESSEY, JAMES,
KILLION, MANDERINO, McGEEHAN, MUSTIO, PETRONE, PICKETT,
SCAVELLO, SIPTROTH, STERN, WALKO AND YOUNGBLOOD,
FEBRUARY 6, 2007
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, FEBRUARY 6, 2007
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
2 act relating to the public school system, including certain
3 provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
4 schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
5 laws relating thereto," changing provisions relating to
6 school terms and sessions.
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. Section 1504(a) of the act of March 10, 1949
10 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949,
11 amended July 1, 1978 (P.L.575, No.105), is amended to read:
12 Section 1504. Dates and Times of School Terms and Sessions;
13 Commencement.--(a) (1) The board of school directors of each
14 school district shall fix the date of the beginning of the
15 school term[.]: Provided, however, That, in a school district
16 that is not on a year-round education calendar, the beginning of
17 any school term for students shall not commence any earlier than
18 the day after Labor Day. The board of school directors may, upon
1 approval by the Secretary of Education, begin the school term
2 prior to the day after Labor Day for situations beyond the
3 control of the school district as a result of major construction
4 and renovation to the school building or natural disaster.
5 (2) Unless otherwise determined by the board, the daily
6 session of school shall open at nine ante-meridian and close at
7 four post-meridian, with an intermission of one hour at noon,
8 and an intermission of fifteen minutes in the forenoon and in
9 the afternoon. Upon request of a board of school directors for
10 an exception to the aforesaid daily schedule, the Secretary of
11 Education may, when in his opinion a meritorious educational
12 program warrants, approve a school week containing a minimum of
13 twenty seven and one-half hours of instruction as the equivalent
14 of five (5) school days, or a school year containing a minimum
15 of nine hundred ninety hours of instruction at the secondary
16 level or nine hundred (900) hours of instruction at the
17 elementary level as the equivalent of one hundred eighty (180)
18 school days.
19 (3) Professional and temporary professional employes shall
20 be allowed a lunch period free of supervisory or other duties of
21 at least thirty minutes.
22 (4) The provisions of this subsection shall not be
23 construed:
24 (i) to repeal any rule or regulation of any board of school
25 directors now in effect which provides for a lunch period longer
26 than the minimum prescribed herein or to repeal any action of
27 any board of school directors taken in compliance with section 7
28 of the act of July 25, 1913 (P.L.1024, No.466), entitled "An act
29 to protect the public health and welfare, by regulating the
30 employment of females in certain establishments, with respect to
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1 their hours of labor and the conditions of their employment; by
2 establishing certain sanitary regulations in the establishments
3 in which they work; by requiring certain abstracts and notices
4 to be posted; by providing for the enforcement of this act by
5 the Commissioner of Labor and Industry and others; by
6 prescribing penalties for violations thereof; by defining the
7 procedure in prosecutions; and by repealing all acts and parts
8 of acts inconsistent with the provisions thereof," as
9 amended[.]; or
10 (ii) to prevent a school district from conducting in-service
11 sessions for teachers before Labor Day.
12 * * *
13 Section 2. Any contractually agreed-upon school calendar or
14 process which determines the school calendar in effect on the
15 effective date of this amendatory act between a school district
16 and its professional or nonprofessional employees which is in
17 conflict with the provisions of this amendatory act shall remain
18 in effect for the duration of that contract.
19 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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