Samo drafts homework policy with input from students

Francesca BillingtonStaff WriterSamo administrators issued a survey on Jan. 7 to students and staff in order to create the first ever Samo homework policy after complaints from parents and students about the amount of homework assigned at Samo.According to Principal Laurel Fretz, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) Board of Education issued a request for Samo to create a homework policy years ago.“The elementary schools and middle schools finished theirs, but Samo still hasn’t submitted one,” Fretz said. “So, this year, one of the goals of our School Site Council is to finish a plan. In order to create a plan that is custom to our school, we need input from parents, teachers and students.”According to H-House Principal Leslie Wells, the Board of Education has guided Samo in creating a homework policy specific to the school’s needs.“Rather than just adopt a policy, say from Malibu High School, and call it our own, we want to write a policy that truly reflects the needs of our teachers to assign meaningful and challenging homework, but respects the need for families and students to not be overwhelmed,” Wells said.According to Wells, the survey was issued to freshman English classes, World History classes, US History classes and Economics classes.“Our homework plan will discuss the amount of homework per course and provide guidelines [for] teachers on assignments, purpose and homework makeup,” Fretz said. “It may include language about weekends, vacations and summer.”According to science teacher Katrina Reyes, a schoolwide homework policy will be beneficial but may not be followed in every class.“[The homework policy] will keep expectations the same,” Reyes said. “At the same time, it would be hard to create a truly universal policy because some classes naturally assign more work.”According to Ava Pomerantz (‘14), a homework policy will help students with the amount of homework they recieve.“[A homework policy] would take out busy work and hopefully leave just homework that helps [us] learn,” Pomerantz said.According to Matthew Ware (’14), Fretz requested that Samo film classes create a brief documentary about homework. According to Fretz, she wanted the documentary to show the different viewpoints on homework at Samo. The film will be presented at a Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) meeting in February.“Fretz has asked the film class to produce a video portraying contrasting views on homework from students and teachers,” Ware said. “The purpose of the film is not to advertise the proposed policy [or] promote any one view on homework, but to show that there are differing views that must be considered.”Fretz said that students should help with the upcoming policy by filling out the surveys given to them.“The Samo Homework Plan should be approved by the end of February, once we get feedback on the rough draft from teachers and others,” Fretz said.fbillington@thesamohi.com