Hollow Homerooms: Homeroom needs to be consistent twice a week

The homeroom schedule has gone through many changes over the past few years, from every day to once a month to the current schedule of twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Even then, though, the schedule can be inconsistent. Twice a week homeroom is the most helpful schedule but it needs to be consistent.

The schedule that included homeroom every day was in place until 2010. This schedule “was used to communicate easily with students by grade level, however the need for that was certainly not a daily need. After we did away with daily homerooms, the pendulum swung the other way, and we only had homerooms ‘when necessary’,” Director of Curriculum Dan Rosenbaum said. This has caused quite a bit of confusion for the students, who would like a say in the homeroom schedule.

Homeroom is not necessary every day, but it is important enough to have it more often than once a week. Twice every week is the most helpful schedule for many reasons. This allows students to be informed about what is happening throughout the coming week. This also helps students if they have anything extra to do in the morning such as talk to a teacher, send papers to the office, as well as last minute studying and homework. Due to hectic scheduling, though, this plan doesn’t always work.

After surveying the student body, 68.89% of the 90 students who responded said they wanted homeroom to continue twice a week. One sophomore said 20-minute homeroom was objectively the best for homework and the schedule makes more sense. Many have also agreed with the point that “it is a good way to get everything together in the morning and is a calm start to the day.”

While homeroom every day may provide the same benefits, it also cuts down class time which can be very inconvenient for teachers as well as students. If there is a lab on a certain day, the students will have less time to complete it. This also gives students less time to finish tests. On the opposite end of the scale, if homeroom is only once a month, the students have more time in classes, but they lose the benefits of a more frequent homeroom. Also, if the schedule is only when homeroom seems necessary, the students become confused as to when the next homeroom is scheduled.

Homeroom needs to consistently be twice a week. This allows students to be more organized, know the schedule, and have a more relaxed start to their day.