This is the video entry that was submitted for the Safe Routes to School Grant.
The Village of Willow Springs was awarded $247,250 to make improvements on the routes to school for the kids that attend Willow Springs School.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
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2 comments:
It is another start of the school year and my kids are excited to be back and in school and learning. Every year I watch their excitement turn into an overwhelming feeling when the teachers start piling on homework. Last year my middle schooler had more homework than my freshman who was taking upper level classes. There is something wrong with that thinking. Inappropriate homework makes kids not like school. So I am calling out all parents who feel the same way to voice their feelings and concerns that they have about their child's homework. This school should reflect the needs and wants of the community and not reflect the needs and wants of a few people on top who do not experience all the rules they enact. When a rule is made, they are many many unintended consequences that do more harm than good. The people on top have zero awareness. This zero awareness turns them into ineffective leaders who run and hide secrets.
Rules? Not sure what rules you are referring to. Infact, our district, state and nation has clearly posted rules... they call them guidelines, on how much homework is appropriate for children according to their grade level. Check out the different websites and you will see that the suggested 'rule to follow' is ten minutes per grade level. So a fifth grader could expect 50 minutes, a sixth grader 60 minutes and so on. Now be careful because if you should choose to point out that your children have way more homework than that... you will be told over and over and over again by Pleasantdale staff members that the guidelines/rules are intended for children on task... and that Pleasantdale is most definitely in keeping with these rule/guidelines. If your child spends more time than deemed appropriate...its because they obviously are not on task. By that definition I would guess most of our children would be classified as off task. They won't adjust the homework load just because most of the children can't do it within the guideline's appropriate time allotment. Unfortunately for the kids, most parents don't know what to do. Some try to complain, some even tell their kids, "do what you can do and then move on". What about the kids that are afraid of mandatory study hall? They either give up extra activities or fatigue themselves staying up later and later to get it done. I talked to lots of parents last year whose kids were exhuasted and up until 11:00 average every night and then falling asleep in school. This is a huge problem but as with so many other issues, Pleasantdale says there is no problem and therefore no need for a solution. If all parents would make their kids adhere to the 10-15 minutes of homework per night... and then we could all watch grades fall across the school population, maybe Pleasantdale would recognize that the majority of the kids having poor grades is acutally a problem worth solving. Wait, that won't work either. No one wants to let their kids get bad grades... If kids, and parents, are doing everything they can and the result is still poor achievement they say, not on task. We as parents know this is not true. Some of us even sit with our children and help guide them through the homework. Some parents do or correct the homework for the kids so it looks like their kids are doing much better than they really are. Perception is the new reality ya know! Last year I actually heard teachers say that the majority of the fifth graders had poor grades and that was normal. Now, that's not a problem worth addressing? What do we know? We're just parents!!! Its crazy I tell you, crazy!
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