Above: This month, the School Committee adopted three reformatted wellness days (circled in purple) for inclusion in the 2024-2025 NSBORO district calendar. (Image credit: Beth Melo, edited from posted calendar)
Northboro-Southboro Public Schools’ Wellness Day will not be the same next year. Starting in the fall, classes will be reduced in number, more evenly distributed, and held in a half-day format for students.
Wellness days were introduced into the school calendar this year to address religious and cultural holiday conflicts and student stress. The revisions are in response to feedback from Algonquin students and teachers that this year’s schedule had unintended negative consequences.
On Wednesday, March 13, the Northboro, Southboro and Area Joint School Committee met to consider Superintendent Gregory Martineau’s recommendations regarding adjustments and the continuation of Wellness Day.
Martineau’s recommendation
Martineau’s proposed amendments to the current Wellness Day schedule and process passed unanimously.
There are three Wellness Days: November 1st, January 29th, and April 17th. These dates were chosen to provide fall, winter, and spring breaks. The purpose is to ensure that students do not face extra workload on the days before and after these breaks.
The new dates for 2024-25 include Diwali and Chinese New Year, with the addition of Maundy Thursday (the day before Good Friday). The second full day of Yom Kippur and Halloween, which were included this year, are not included. (Feedback from the survey was that too many days were spent at the beginning of the school year.)
Given the impact half-days have on parents, Regional School Committee member Kathleen Howland asked about extending childcare benefits for families. Many committee members who have children of their own shared concerns about half-days.
Martineau recommended partnering with the district’s Recreation Department, Youth and Family Department, and Extended Day Program to really give families the best options for changing schedules.
One of the benefits of the half-day approach is that it allows more time for teacher development. This was a major concern identified in the aforementioned survey.
“The thing about health stress for educators is that the majority of their time is in front of their students, leaving them with very little time to actually plan, learn, and hone their craft,” Martineau says. .
Southborough School Committee Chair Kamari O’Meally asked, “Is that enough time for educators to learn what they need to learn during that period?” [Professional Development] time? “
Martineau’s response was that extra time would be helpful. “I think that would be a great blessing and the school would make the most of it.”
What is a Wellness Day?
Wellness days are a fairly new concept. During the discussion, Martineau focused on the intention to “give students the opportunity to have a truly homework-free, workload-free evening.” [as well as free] This is so that they can take a break from school activities and focus on their health. ”
In the 2023-2024 school year, there will be four designated wellness days during which teachers cannot assign work or plan for tests on those days.
Existing Wellness Day Issues
As a student at Algonquin College, I found Wellness Day to be helpful in concept, but in practice it was missing some aspects.
By creating a day when teachers were not assigned any work, the days before and after the day were filled with tests. For teachers with fixed curricula and schedules, it is difficult to postpone plans significantly, so the immediate solution was to place exams earlier or later in the day. Afterwards, the consensus among students was that it would be less stressful to spread the tests over her week as usual.
Because the findings raised questions, the administration worked to put together a revised format for recommendations to the School Committee.
One improvement is that 2 of the 3 days will be the last school day of the week, after which you will not be able to take the test.
The half-day format also gives students more time to focus on non-school-related activities and gives educators more time for professional learning.
public criticism
Public comments consisted of suggestions on how to better incorporate the need to co-locate various religious holidays and wellness days or holidays. Commenters noted that Eid, an Islamic holiday, will not be celebrated next year with a holiday or wellness day, even though it is celebrated in surrounding towns such as Hopkinton and Westboro. .
“I’m concerned that you’re taking away holidays instead of honoring additional holidays,” said Mitch Cohen, chairman of the Northborough City Task Force, speaking as a resident. [holidays], we are going in the wrong direction. ”
Matthew Spencer of the Regional School Committee responded that students and families do not have to share religious affiliation, making it more difficult to decide which holidays to take.
“I would probably add religious holidays and not take any holidays. [them] Away. The only cases I am happy to address are when students are participating in a religious holiday and have an educational opportunity when they are not in the school building. I feel like the school is here to serve the community, but if we don’t, we’re not allowed to ask them questions, so what religious holidays do they honor? I don’t know if we’re celebrating, but how can we be responsive to the needs of our community?”
Mr. Martineau’s response stated the need to gather comprehensive information through research groups to determine the most effective approach to managing holidays.
“The bottom line is 180 days. You have to put 180 days on your calendar, and that’s a legal requirement.”
[Editor’s Note: This post was written by intern Laney Halsey with edits by Beth Melo.]
