Letter: Barrington student survey results should concern you

Posted 5/25/16

To the editor:

Last Tuesday, I attended my first BHS orientation. The packed auditorium of students and parents enjoyed a Sunrise Show welcome video before hearing from students and faculty. …

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Letter: Barrington student survey results should concern you

Posted

To the editor:

Last Tuesday, I attended my first BHS orientation. The packed auditorium of students and parents enjoyed a Sunrise Show welcome video before hearing from students and faculty.  

Many references were made about reducing stress, finding balance, and asking for help. The message isn't fully formed yet — not everyone spoke with the same emphasis on balance — but I’m pleased to see that trend. Certainly, the topic of adolescent stress is all around us, from the school start time discussion to recent discussions about standardized and AP tests, the suicide prevention program, and even Malia Obama's gap year decision.

On Thursday, I attended the school committee meeting and learned why the message is shifting to “balance.” The high school recently received results of the Challenge Success survey taken by 863 BHS students in March. There’s a lot of data, and more to come, but striking at first view:

• Students report 2.4-3+ hours of homework each night and on weekends. 

• 31 percent of students report >10 hours of extracurricular activities per week.

• BHS students get 6.4-7.12 hours of sleep on an average weeknight. Given the recommendation of 9.25 hours, they are 10-15 hours sleep-deprived weekly.  

• Only 13 percent of students enjoy school. Of the others, 32 percent do school with purpose, 45 percent just "do school," and 7 percent are not engaged.  

• 75 percent report being often or always stressed — higher than students at comparable schools.  

As Dr. Shea commented, this is no surprise. For those that have been saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," it's time to realize and understand that, while there are many wonderful things that happen in Barrington Public Schools, the system as we know it needs fixing. An excellent education does not need to come packaged with excessive and harmful stress.

So, how do we fix it?

At the school and district level, there are many things happening already to reduce stress and improve health and well-being. The school start time change to 8:30 for BHS/BMS is scheduled to begin in 2017-18. It is a concrete and well-established move towards improvement in student sleep hours and reduced stress.  

The Homework Policy subcommittee is meeting and preparing an age-appropriate policy for the entire district.  

The Health and Wellness committee is discussing alternative ways to reduce teachers' stress given its direct impact on student stress.  

The health curriculum is due for a re-evaluation in the coming year.  

The Challenge Success survey data should be widely shared and discussed.

The BHS School Improvement team is looking at ways to balance expectations with student needs.  

Families, through open and honest discussion, will evaluate for themselves what works for their children. As a community, we must embrace these system-wide changes — and then keep working, thinking, and developing these ideas — to best prepare our children for the "real world.”  

We need to maximize their health, well-being, engagement in education, and love of learning — and we should start now, whatever their age.

Sincerely, 

Megan Douglas, MD, MPH

Mother of three, Med-Peds physician

Barrington

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