Delaying school days to give teachers more professional development time has been a success at the high school, but the same idea met with resistance at the elementary level.

A day after presenting the plan to the Marion School Committee on Wednesday, Old Rochester Regional administrators revised their proposal.

The original idea was to give teachers 16 additional hours of professional development time by delaying class time eight mornings a year. On those days, faculty would arrive at the usual start time and classes would start two hours later.

The new plan would reinstate four half days for teachers previously found in the school year, thus releasing students two hours early in the afternoon rather than a delayed start time.

Marion School Committee members questioned a delayed start time saying elementary school students require more supervision than high schoolers and would need to be dropped off at the usual start time to accommodate parents.

“I support delayed starts at the high school,” committee member Christine Marcolini said. “How I feel about delayed starts at the elementary school is very, very different.”

Sippican School Principal Lyn Rivet said a program would be available for students on professional development mornings. Low cost activities provided by the Marion Recreation Department are an option under consideration, she said.

“My concern is you’re going to have a lot of elementary school children who will need to come to school,” Marcolini said. “If we’re relying on the Recreation Department that’s an expense we’re putting on parents. I’m not comfortable with that.”

Chair Joseph Scott said the number of hours taken away from instruction time was a problem, too.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Elise Frangos responded that similar programs are in place at high-performing districts near Boston. Ultimately, students will benefit if their teachers have extra time for professional development, she said.

In fact, a rundown of professional development at local, Cape Cod and Boston metro schools, provided by Frangos, shows that tri-town schools have one of the lowest number of hours. Tri-town schools have 12 hours, compared to 50 in Middleboro, 30 in Wareham and 90 in Concord.

Frangos said the district only has two full days dedicated to professional days each year. On those days, education professionals introduce new ideas and techniques.

“We feel that’s money well spent and allows us to unfold some great strategies, but there’s no time to talk about how to put those strategies into action,” Frangos said.

Still, the Marion committee's reticence was received loud and clear.

At Thursday's Rochester School Committee, Frangos gave members a new option: four half days equaling eight hours of professional development.

These half days were removed last year to try out more full-day professional development days.

Two-hour development times have merit as they give teachers the opportunity to learn from each other, said Frangos.

The "peer to peer" interaction is "a huge change for educators," said Rochester Memorial School Principal Derek Medeiros.

Rochester committee member Jennifer Kulak said it was important for parents to understand how little time there is for professional development.

"I think there's a misunderstanding among parents that there are a lot more days to work with teachers," she said.

School committees are expected to consider the additional hours and speak with members of the community for feedback.

ORR administrators will also present the proposal to the Mattapoisett School Committees.