Tenafly School District Parents Sound The Alarm On Too Much Homework
TENAFLY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – There is a homework debate brewing in Bergen County.
Hundreds of parents have complained that their kids are just getting too much. CBS2's Ilana Gold found out on Monday why parents want teachers to cut back on assignments.
"It's pretty stressful," junior Zach Glass said, describing his nightly routine after leaving Tenafly High School. "I definitely think it's too much."
The 16-year-old junior said between six honors and advanced placement classes, the nightly homework load from one of New Jersey's top schools can take five hours.
"I can be up until past midnight doing homework on some nights, especially if I have soccer or model UN," Glass said.
"It's very hard to get family time and forget going out to dinner, doing something on a week night. It's not even a consideration," added Caryl Paisner, Glass' mother.
And Odelia Shargian said homework keeps her 11th grade son up until 2 a.m.
"It's definitely putting a lot of pressure on him and on us as a family," Shargian said.
So she's fighting to get her teen and his classmates a break, taking her message to Facebook, where hundreds of parents have now joined in, telling the district to let up on the homework.
But, it's a fight some disagree with.
"That's part of growing up. You need to teach kids to be tough and to survive and have grit, and they need to make decisions and choices," Tenafly Board of Education member Mark Aronson said.
The school district superintendent, Lynn Trager, is listening to parents concerns about too much homework. She wouldn't talk on camera, but told Gold she's making changes to limit stress on students.
Tenafly students will now get to see expectations and workload for next year's classes before signing up -- and there will be no homework during December break, Gold reported.
"I think it's a really good start," Shargian said.
It's a change many at in Tenafly schools said they are looking forward to.
"I'm excited for that. No homework. It's going to be like a week off, so that's really nice," Glass said.
Parents said they want the district taking even more steps to help students learn under less pressure, Gold reported.
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