Board of Education Votes to Revise 20-Year-Old District Homework Policy

• Parents Request More Involvement in the Planning Process and Lighter Work Loads for Their Children

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Revisions to the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District’s 20-year-old homework policy were approved by the board of education when it met in Malibu, on Oct. 1. The changes are unlikely to be greeted with enthusiasm by K-9 students, since the revised guidelines recommend an increase in the daily amount of homework. District teachers have also expressed a lack of en-thusiasm for the plan, although the teachers union did not officially oppose the policy change.
According to the staff report, district parents have for years complained that their children receive excessive homework assignments. The changes, which school officials say will provide better communication between teachers, parents and administrators, come after a year of ad hoc committee discussion and review of the existing policy.
Although some parents have complained that the new plan will increase the time problem, others have stated that the new timeline is necessary. Several speakers expressed concern that the revised policy did not include enough oppor-tunity for parent input.
“Parents need to be involved,” Debbie Bernstein, a parent, teacher and former Malibu resident, told the board. “This started over a year ago. We need this policy. Our children still need time to sleep...our kids need a timeline. We’re here to protect our kids.”
Parent Claudia Landis described the change in her child as he struggled with an overload of course work. She advocated for input from parents. “We know the things that are happening to our children,” she said, asking where the research is that supports increasing homework beyond the levels recommended by senior staff.
For first graders, the new plan means a maximum of 20 minutes of homework a day, or 80 a week, up from 10-20 minutes a day. The other elementary and middle school grades will also increase 10 minutes per day, for a maximum of 80 minutes per day in grade 8.
The board could not agree on high school time limits, since many students opt to take honors and AP classes that already have heavier homework requirements, and others participate in music, sports or arts programs that made quantifying homework minutes difficult. The board decided instead to allow high schools to develop site plans.
“I think [the policy] is flawed,” board member Kelly Pye stated. “I don’t think there is justification in assigning minutes [in high school].
Board president Ralph Mechur concurred. “It really doesn’t make sense to have a policy, which we knew a large percent of students were basically not going to be able to follow because of their choice of academic classes.” He added that a minutes policy at the high school level would be, in his opinion, “routinely ignored.”
Board member Oscar de la Torre, abstained from the vote, stating that, in his view, the policy require additional input from teachers. The board passed the policy with three votes. Board members Maria Leon-Vazquez and Jose Escarce were not present.
Earlier in the meeting, board vice president Barry Snell tentatively asked the board to consider adding a discussion item at the next board meeting to study removing the controversial Malibu High School permanent field lighting proposal from the district’s Measure BB improvement plan. The lights are an add alternative that can only be funded if money is available after core projects are completed. The permanent lighting plan has received extensive criticism from west Malibu residents.
On Oct. 8, the California Coastal Commission is hearing an amendment request by the district to permit temporary field lighting at the Malibu campus for a limited number of football games and practices. Athletic field lighting was prohibited on the campus as part of a 2000 Coastal Development Permit. The School has operated lighting in violation of the CDP for several years, and is now attempting to obtain a permit.
The coastal agency’s staff has indicated that the district failed to inform them that a permanent lighting plan was under consideration.
District superintendent Tim Cuneo told the board that a group of students and parents were planning to speak in support of the temporary lights at the commission meeting in Oceanside.
In other district news, the date for the district’s Special Education Fall Forum will take place on Oct. 24, from 8 a.m. to noon at John Adams Middle School in Santa Monica.