Superintendent Howard Looking at Renewed Emphasis on Homework in Coming School Year

By Adam Swift

The school district looks to emphasize consistency in homework in the coming school year.

“Homework has become one of those topics that principals and teachers have been discussing,” said Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard at Monday night’s School Committee meeting. “What does it look like? We got away from homework during Covid, and I think we need to get back to what we are expecting.”

Creating consistency with homework is one of the items that is being addressed through the district’s summer leadership academy, Howard said.

“Whether there is 10 to 15 minutes of reading and 30 minutes of math, (we need to ensure) that there is some consistency of practice across the district, and that it is communicated clearly, communicated to parents, communicated to teachers, and that it is visible whether we are doing our instructional rounds or observations,” said the superintendent.  

Howard said the consistency in the homework programs will also help to provide better feedback.

During the first session of the leadership academy, Howard said that other areas tagged for greater consistency include the school improvement plans, posting of school site council meetings, emergency plans, and staff training.

Howard said the district needs to make sure professional development plans are completed and teachers know what to expect.

“We want a really well-managed time frame during our professional development time with our teachers,” said Howard. “We want to get right down to business for each of these, especially with the Illustrative Math program that we will be implementing at the Gorman Fort Banks School in the fall. Teachers have already started some professional development, but there needs to be more of that and it needs to be timely and the time has to be well spent.”

The second session of the leadership academy is scheduled for Friday, July 14, and new topics slated to be discussed at that session include a review of the bullying prevention plan and a discussion of principal and director presentations before the School Committee during the school year.

In other business, Howard said the district continues to recruit for open positions for the 2023-24 school year.

In addition to posting on general and professional job search sites, Howard said an email was sent out to district parents letting them know the positions that are open in the schools.

“That went out Sunday, and we’ve gotten some responses today, which is excellent, especially with parents looking for some part-time work as lunch monitors and recess monitors,” said Howard. “There’s also some part-time secretarial work.”