minutes in the forenoon and in the afternoon. Upon request of a
board of school directors for an exception to the aforesaid
daily schedule, the [Secretary of Education] secretary may, when
in his opinion a meritorious educational program warrants,
approve a school week containing a minimum of twenty seven and
one-half hours of instruction as the equivalent of five (5)
school days, or a school year containing a minimum of nine
hundred ninety hours of instruction at the secondary level or
nine hundred (900) hours of instruction at the elementary level
as the equivalent of one hundred eighty (180) school days.
(3) Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, and each
school year thereafter, the instructional day for a secondary
school may not begin earlier than 8:15 a.m. By July 1, 2026, the
governing body of a public school entity shall inform its
community, including parents, students, school administrators,
school employes and other stakeholders, about the health, safety
and academic impacts of sleep deprivation on secondary school
students and the benefits of a later school start time, and
shall discuss with the community local strategies to
successfully implement the later school start time.
(4) Professional and temporary professional employes shall
be allowed a lunch period free of supervisory or other duties of
at least thirty minutes.
(5) The provisions of this subsection shall not be construed
to repeal any rule or regulation of any board of school
directors now in effect which provides for a lunch period longer
than the minimum prescribed [herein] in this section or to
repeal any action of any board of school directors taken in
compliance with section 7 of the act of July 25, 1913 (P.L.1024,
No.466), entitled "An act to protect the public health and
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