For Jenna Helenski, the daily grind at Connecticut's Ellington High School can be exhausting. Thank goodness the senior has three study halls everyday to catch her breath. And she isn't alone: more than half of the school's seniors have three daily study halls-during which eating, chatting, or iPod listening are de rigueur- and the vast majority of all students at Ellington have at least two. "I wouldn't change it," said Helenski, referring to the current Ellington system. "You need the breakup, the time to recover between classes." Students' balanced chakras aside, some parents have complained that their kids are wasting time in the cafeteria instead of learning in the classroom. The study halls, Ellington's principal replies, are simply a result of the district's lack of funds and its inability to hire more teachers for elective courses. (So who's paying the hall monitors?) Regardless, Gadfly wonders why administrators would warehouse kids in the lunchroom instead of encouraging them to, say, take classes at a local junior college. Perhaps some seniors could spend part of their day in an internship or job-training program? Or maybe the state should follow Ohio's example (see Education tasting menu, above) and think about beefing up its graduation requirements. Anything, really, but what the school is doing now.
"Too Many Students Stuck In Study Halls," by Rachana Rathi, Hartford Courant, February 12, 2006