Community Corner

A Break From Books

Students at Swampscott High got their first of eight homework free nights on Wednesday,

Two juniors shooting video at last night's School Committee meeting had different takes on homework-free night.

Tyler Short welcomed a break from the 2- to 2.5-hours of homework he logs each night.

"Yeah, I like the idea," he said. "I can relax and not worry about (homework)."

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Not that he minds homework much. He does it when he gets home.

It's a routine. He knocks out math problems and completes his assigned reading which, right now, in his English class, is Nathaniel Hawthorne short stories.

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Tyler's fellow videographer and classmate, Mark Casella, said he does 1- to 1.5-hours of homework each night.

The night off is no big deal.

"It doesn't make a difference to me," he said.

School officials think the eight nights off that students will get during the school year will give students a needed breather.

The time off will give them hours with their families.

Superintendent Lynne Celli said the roots of the homework free project extend to Marblehead.

Swampscott showed the movie Race to Nowhere after school Nurse Marianne Speranza-Hartmann saw it in Marblehead.

It resonated with her.

The next day she called Swampscott High School Principal and asked if she could show the documentary.

The film documents the depression and pressure students feel in their race for academic success, according to Reel Link Films. which presents the film.

Swampscott showed the film and it made an impression on its audience.

Members of the school leadership panel cobbled together the homework free program as a way to relieve pressure on students.

And to afford them time with their families.

"We want students to spend time with people they love and not do homework from the time they get home until they go to bed," the superintendent said.

School Committee Chairman Jacqueline Kinney favors giving kids a break from homework.

She also said the homework topic was generating dialogue in town.

 

 

 


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