March 12, 2010
by Susie Pender
This fall at the Principal-Parent coffees hosted by the Greeley PTA, the question of homework assigned over the three major school vacations kept surfacing, noted Madeline Rivlin, chair of the Greeley PTA. Principal Andrew Selesnick, Rivlin and her vice-chair, Heidi Fuhrman, discussed this in the context of brainstorming about how to boost attendance at high school PTA meetings.
“We thought we should be more topical. See what people are interested in talking about, and schedule a PTA meeting about that,” explained Rivlin. “We thought it would be cool to have a survey with it. We have all these great new technologies we can use to engage the community in a different way.”
She admitted, “We don’t know how it will play out. But we thought it couldn’t hurt to try something new.”
So Rivlin, Selesnick and Fuhrman collaborated on a five-question survey about vacation homework assignments that can be completed in less than two minutes. There is a comment option, so if you have a lot to say on the topic, that may stretch your survey response time to three minutes.
The survey will remain open from March 8 through March 26. On Wednesday, March 17, the Greeley PTA will hold a meeting at 9:30 a.m. in room K-110 to discuss this topic. Although the survey results will not be complete by then, Rivlin, Fuhrman and Selesnick will discuss the preliminary results, Rivlin explained. In the three days the survey has been up, March 8-10, the PTA has already received 60 responses, she observed.
Hiccup in the process
There’s only one hiccup in the process. The notice of the survey and link to it were sent to all Greeley parents through Infinite Campus Portal, a web-based student management program. In order to access the survey, a parent must obtain an activation key to the Infinite Campus Portal. To obtain an activation key, a parent must go to the district website, ccsd.ws; in the Quick Links box that appears, click on Infinite Campus Portal. That link will take you to a letter explaining how to obtain an activation key.
The letter contains a link to download the Portal Agreement,
http://www.ccsd.ws/TECH/2006TechWebSite/InfiniteCampus/PortalAgreement.pdf
The parent must download and print the Portal Agreement, fill it out and sign it and snail mail or fax it to the district office at 66 Roaring Brook Road. “When access is approved,” the letter explains, “the district will mail you a letter which includes an activation code and instructions for creating your portal account. Once approved, your account will remain active.
This minor inconvenience can be shortcut by calling the business office, 238-7200, and asking for Lisa. You can drop your form off with her and she will immediately give you the envelope containing your activation key.
If you already have an account, the portal can be accessed at: https://campus.ccsd.ws/campus2007/portal/chappaqua.jsp
The Survey
The five question of the survey are as follows:
1. Have Greeley teachers assigned homework to your child (or children) to be completed during winter, February or spring vacation?
Often Rarely Never
2. What did the homework require? (Check all that apply)
Textbook(s)
Research
Writing a paper
Reading a book (other than a textbook)
Worksheets or packet
3. Which of the following most closely reflects your opinion of homework given over school vacations? (Choose just one response)
Too little homework is given over vacations
I’ve never given the subject any thought
I’m aware of current practice and think it is fine
Too much homework is given over vacations
No homework should ever be given over vacations
4. Which of the following captures some or all of your reasons for being concerned about homework given over vacations? (Choose as many as apply)
HW interferes with family vacation plans
HW doesn’t appear to be helpful
HW creates stress during a time to relax
HW requires computer access during vacation travel
HW requires heavy textbooks, etc., during travel
5. I like the concept of homework over vacations; I just don’t like the form it is currently taking. I would suggest the following: [opportunity to comment].
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