Dear Editor:
The Chelsea School District Board of Education is currently conducting one of its regular reviews of district policies.
They are presently considering a potential change in policy 7510.01, regarding Sunday activities. It currently states “In order to encourage greater family activity participation and to reduce school-related pressure on student time, members of the staff or their representatives are prohibited from sponsoring, developing, encouraging, and participating in Sunday activities involving students of the School District. The Superintendent may make an exception to this Sunday rule.”
The reason for the possible change is to have flexibility in scheduling of activities (to be determined by the coach, advisor, or teacher) and eliminate the need to request permission of the Superintendent or school board. Additionally, Chelsea Recreation conducts some activities on Sundays, and the department now falls under the school district.
This is our 19th year as parents in the Chelsea School District. Over the years, we’ve witnessed a steady increase in the standard of expectations placed upon students and families – in academics, athletics, and extra-curricular activities. These increased expectations take time. Students no longer seem to have healthy balance in their lives as they juggle classes, homework, and the activities that they either enjoy or are told are necessary for college admissions. They work to succeed, but often give up optimal nutrition, sleep, and family time in order to do so. Free time to relax, create, think or dream about their futures is a rarity at best.
Many parents in this district share the concern that changing this policy will be a slippery slope towards having no set time off for our children and our families, in a society that already struggles with overscheduling.
Despite the changes in our society and culture, the fact remains that children still need certain things: basic physical needs of nutrition and rest, the love of their families, the benefits of some unstructured free time, exploration of their faith and growing personal convictions, and acquisition of skills to be ready to leave home upon graduation. All of these things take time.
Overscheduling, busyness, and pressure that our students experience are most certainly problems that will affect their long-term health – physical and mental. We should be helping them to learn balance in all things rather than pressuring them to excel to an imposed level of achievement regardless of the cost.
Please consider sharing your thoughts regarding this policy with the Chelsea School District Board of Education. Contact information is available at https://sites.google.com/a/chelsea.k12.mi.us/schoolboard/home.
Thank you,
Don and Crystal Hayduk
Chelsea, MI
I respectfully disagree. The policy should be changed. I have long believed that school facilities should be much more available, almost around the clock to communities. The problem is not over scheduling. The problem is a lack of passion and creativity. Instead of simply preparing the next generation of consumers, we should use these facilities to encourage a student’s creativity.I believe high expectations are a good thing. Encourage students to pursue interests that fire them up and they’ll put in the time.
Well said, Guy. Sunday’s shouldn’t be treated differently than other days of the week. If a student is over-scheduled, it’s time to examine the student’s activities and prioritize what’s actually important to him/her. It’s simply part of growing up; there isn’t time to do everything one wants to do and you have to make decisions on what’s going to do the most, whether that’s for you, or for the community.
I agree with the Hayduks. Schools already have our children for 35 hours a week not including activities outside of the normal school day. Why should we change a school policy that sets aside one day a week where there are no school demands placed on the family. I think it is important to remember that what makes a strong school system are the strong families.
I agree with the Hayduks. If the policy is changed, it opens the door for there to be no down time for our children. Practices for sports are currently held 6 days a week. If we change this policy, I have no doubt that practices will be held EVERY DAY. I don’t see how this has anything to do with creativity, passion or over scheduling. It’s a matter of setting limits. Even adults have days off! It would seem obvious that a parent can dictate the days a child attends activities, but that isn’t the case. If you don’t play by the rules, you don’t play. If we open the door to Sundays, I guarantee our kids, even ones with only one activity, will be busy SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
The kids I know do not have a lack of drive, ambition, passion nor creativity. What they do lack is downtime and sleep. Once kids hit the middle school years, each activity they choose requires a near full time commitment. We set limits on the number of activities for our kids, but even so it is rare that we are able to sit down to dinner as a family. Sunday is the exception. I agree with the Hayduks and urge the school board to maintain the current Sunday restriction on school-related activities.
I struggle to determine whether I believe that the policy is the real issue here. I will preface this by saying that my kids are too young to have these issues yet, but they are both in scouting and I volunteer in multiple roles with my son’s cub scouts, so I have a feel for the craziness. I see many families deal with it, and I don’t look forward to having to deal with it ourselves.
To me, it seems like the root of the issue is that kids want to do too many things, and parents just want to be supportive. They want to do scouting, great! They want to play football or basketball or be in band, great! Drama club/be in plays, great. Cheerleading, great. But there simply has to be a limit. That’s what the parents (and school) need to help the students figure out.
Every activity has a certain amount of time commitment required per week for a certain part, or all of a school year. Parents need to really help their kids learn how to prioritize what is most important to them by really thinking about what they are passionate about and then decide what they have time for in their lives after you factor in school and homework first.
We all deal with it in our professional lives, if you over-commit yourself, you will under-deliver. If you under-commit, you will over-deliver. Everybody needs to find their “Happy Zone” in order to be as successful as possibly in life.
The students need the guidance from home and school both to find their “happy zone”, that balancing point in life where they can maximize their positive impact on themselves, their future, their family, and their community, while still maintaining time to just “be a kid” and sleep in on the weekends or have down time for movie nights with the family.
So, do what you will with this policy change, but I don’t have much confidence that it will really change anything. The sooner we teach kids to figure out how to plan their time efficiently and effectively is when we will see change.
Crystal Hayduk’s letter deserves consideration. Her plea is for our children.
Her girls, my boys and probably your children as well, are driven to do their best … and there is nothing wrong with that. However, whether it is school imposed or self imposed, that drive can go beyond what is healthy.
Not having a game, a practice or some other school related activity to attend on Sunday doesn’t mean our children are slackers and won’t be able to succeed in life. On the contrary, it just gives them a little time to breathe and perhaps get their homework done AND get adequate sleep. And maybe, just maybe, as parents, we’ll have some time with them before they graduate and move on.
Policy 7510.01 was written “to encourage greater family activity participation and to reduce school-related pressure on student time.” It is a sound policy and should remain compulsory.
I agree with the Hayduks and wish the board would not change the policy. Do you want to make it harder to encourage greater family activity participation? Do you want to increase school-related pressure on student time? It IS a sound policy and should be left “as is”. I think as parents we need to stop the complete encroachment by the schools on our weekends and evenings. The pressure for this change is supposedly coming because Rec and Ed is now under the umbrella of Chelsea Public Schools. Supposedly they are considered one entity. That really isn’t true. School is school. If you really want to make them one entity – then the smaller group should follow the rules of the larger group. I don’t think that this is the actual drive for this change however.
I agree with the Hayduks, the policy should not be changed. Sunday is a day of rest, we all need to honor that. Sports can have the other six days, parents and children need some down time!
I believe the policy should remain the same for the reasons the Hayduks and others suggest. As for the Rec and Ed, either the Superintendent can decide which Rec and Ed activities are healthy or an exception needs to be added exempting Rec and Ed. (or exempting no more than X rec and Ed per year)