The addition of multiple study halls at our school is relatively new, as recent as last school year students did not have as many study halls as they do now. The increase in the number of study halls per student has caused a mix of opinion among students and staff at the school. Many people are questioning how the addition of more study halls will help the students.
Assistant Dean Sean Sawyer said that students have always had study halls, and that it’s just been more this year.
“It had a lot to do with scheduling,” he said. “We had one group of students that didn’t go to gym, so each of these students had a study hall, other students used [study halls] to fill up space [in their schedules].”
According to junior Davon Boyce, study halls help him prepare for classes that are later in the day.
“It [has] helped raise the number of times I do my homework and it gives me more free time at home,” Boyce said.
Research from the Educational Information Resource Center, an archive for the United States Department of Education, shows that study halls help students by providing them with a supportive environment in order to improve their rate of homework completion. According to E.R.I.C, “Study halls could be vital to students if incorporated into daily scheduling [because] it provides a safe environment for students. [It] also had greater residual effects such as higher scholastic achievement, lower truancy, and higher homework completion rates.”
The staff at the school said that time in study halls can be utilized in a variety of ways.
“[Study halls] worked out to be used for [guest] speakers and things like Men’s Group,” Sawyer said.
Robert Donnelly, history teacher, said that study halls give students the “opportunity to read.”
“Some schools shut down for an hour and read,” Donnelly said. “I wish we had that [because] it’s good for kids, old [people] and people in between.”
Other students at the school said that they just want a study hall for “free time” during the day.
“It’s just a free period, you’re not learning anything,” sophomore Dorian Garvin said. “I would use [study hall] to do my homework [and take] a break in the middle of the day.”
Junior Joseph Rodriguez said that study hall was just a “waste of time.”
“It hasn’t helped me in any way, they shouldn’t take study halls out but you should have to be in a certain grade [to take a study hall].”
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