School Board To Discuss Homework

Homework will be the top discussion among Pleasanton Unified School District board members at tonight’s regular school board meeting.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the district office located at 4665 Bernal Ave.

District officials plan to present findings generated from parent and teacher comments, forums held in February and results from a survey issued last spring.

From the surveys, various groups expressed their opinions about homework. The feedback noted a discrepancy between how much time teachers felt students were spending on homework and how much time parents said students were devoting to homework assignments.

Homework guidelines are set based on the grade level and needs of the average student, according to the homework policy draft.

The draft of the new homework policy recommends that children in elementary school spend no more than 50 minutes on homework every night and reading must be included. More specifically:

• Students in kindergarten and first grade should spend 10 to 20 minutes on homework
• Students in grades 2 and 3 should spend 20 to 30 minutes on homework
• Students in grades 4-6 should spend 40 to 50 minutes on homework
• All elementary school students should not be assigned homework on weekends, holidays or extended breaks

Middle school students, too, should only be assigned homework Monday through Thursday, according to the draft. Those students, in grades 6-8, should spend no more than 15 minutes per class on homework.

High school students should spend no more than 20 minutes per period on homework but should be assigned homework Monday through Friday, the draft policy recommends.

The district’s homework policy was last updated in 2003, according to district spokesperson Myla Grasso.

The survey has enabled the district to dive further into what to consider in a policy revision.

“It reflected some areas that we wanted to continue discussion about – quantity and value of homework; should it be assigned over vacations, etc.  Also, as student stress is a focus for the district this year, a discussion of homework is appropriate,” Grasso wrote in an e-mail to Patch.

No action will be taken on the homework policy tonight. A workshop will be held in late April to gather more information from the public and the school board, according to the board packet.

Presentation of the draft’s first reading is scheduled for May 24 and a second reading is planned for June 21. Once approved, the policy will become effective for the 2011-12 school year.

For more information on the homework policy or to view the results from the homework survey, click here.

Also at tonight’s meeting, the board will be asked to approve a resolution that would put the district in a position to issue Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes (TRANs).

If approved, the district will be able to participate in the California Cash Reserve Program, which is sponsored by the California School Board Association. 

This program would allow the district to issue a TRAN that would act as a loan until the district receives its tax receipts in December and April 2012, according to the board packet.

By doing so, the district’s cash flow, which has been impacted by the state’s deferral of cash apportionments, will be assisted until those tax receipts are supplied.

Pleasanton Unified is hoping to issue TRANs that would not exceed $15 million during the 2011-12 school year.

To read about the California School Cash Reserve Program, click here.

To download tonight’s board agenda and packet, click here or see the attached PDFs.