STATEN ISLAND — Nearly 300 members of the Staten Island Technical High School community — students, parents and teachers — had a local movie theater all to themselves for opening day of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
The special outing was part of a fundraiser for the robotics team at the top-notch school known by its acronym SITHS. It was also part of Principal Mark Erlenwein’s efforts in bringing the light side to students, who often feel stressed by academics.
As one of eight elite high schools in the city that require students pass the Specialized High School Admissions Test for entry, Staten Island Tech’s students tend to be high achievers and put a lot of pressure on themselves.
Their principal is trying to curtail certain stressors, through reducing homework and bolstering in-school wellness services like yoga, meditation and other counseling.
“We’re in a ‘like, share, comment society,’ where everyone has access to who you are and what you’re doing and what comes next. And that, on top of the academics, comes with a high price tag in terms of stress level,” Erlenwein said.
In fact, nearly 64 percent of students reported being very or extremely stressed as a result of the school’s academic rigor, according to a survey the school conducted last spring and this fall.
The survey enabled Erlenwein to get feedback from students and parents about what they’d like changed and then create an actionable plan implemented this year.
Erlenwein, who is deeply connected to the school — he was a student there, then a teacher and assistant principal before taking the helm three years ago — tries to remind his students that they are still kids.
Hence, he has Star Wars paraphernalia around his office.
“Yes, we’re in a rush,” he said of his students, most of whom graduate with enough credits to qualify as sophomores when starting college. “But as long as you’re in high school, you’re still a kid. You don’t ever get to do this again.”
Here are some of the things SI Tech is doing:
1. Assignment-free breaks
Recognizing the need for students to decompress during school breaks, the school is trying to prevent homework overload.
If, for instance, there’s a big research paper that’s part of the curriculum, it must be assigned at least a week prior to break and due a week after.
“It’s up to the student [when to do the work].” Erlenwein said. “It’s not like it was sprung on them out of nowhere.”
2. Reduce homework
The faculty and administration are looking to “minimize the amount and time” required for daily homework while “maximizing the meaningfulness” of what’s assigned.
“It’s more quality over quantity,” said Erlenwein. “We've been doing a lot of sharing and comparing on how we give homework, discussing what's frivolous and what’s meaningful.”
3. Cut the number of marking periods from six to four
Traditionally there have been three marking periods in the fall and in the spring terms, resulting in six paper report cards. After much debate, the school cut it down to four report cards.
With “digital learning management systems” and “real time tracking of how your kids are doing,” the three-marking periods per semester just added stress since it forced teachers to squeeze in more tests, Erlenwein said.
It’s been especially helpful to move the first report card from October to November.
“Teachers have more time to meet students and get to know them and there’s more success and accuracy,” he said of the new grading system.
4. New testing schedule to avoid subject conflicts
Kids were having too many tests in one day, noticed Erlenwein, who devised a new schedule where each discipline has two shots per week of when they can test.
(The school also coordinated this schedule with its fire drill schedule, he noted, to avoid potential conflicts.)
5. Provide more in-school services for stress management
When Erlenwein was assistant principal, he implemented a digital tool — that students designed — where kids could anonymously report incidents or concerns related to things like bullying, drugs or sex abuse. Increasingly, students were using the tool to report stress-related issues, he said.
The school recently tapped the director of wellness and health from the Staten Island Borough President’s Office (who is also a parent of an SI Tech alum) to bring in nonprofit organizations to provide on-site health and wellness services.
These include everything from yoga and meditation to a group that focuses on grief and loss for children and families. It’s also bringing in a group that provides stress-reduction and advocacy on behalf of families affected by mental illness.
6. Improve parent communications about school calendar and holidays
Many working parents can’t necessarily schedule their family trips around school breaks, which means kids might end up missing a week of school — which then makes them more stressed since they end up behind in coursework, Erlenwein said.
SI Tech now sends out the calendar every two weeks, he said.
7. Introduce incoming ninth-graders to the school and each other before the year starts
SI Tech now hosts an optional summer “bridge” program where incoming ninth-graders spend a week at the school meeting their peers, getting familiar with the building and doing some “light work” like note-taking skills.
The school lets kids pick one week out of five options and saw 88 percent of incoming students participate.
“When they come in September, they have some friends, know some faculty,” Erlenwein said. “It’s the second year we’ve done this and it’s had a huge impact.”
8. Teach kids to detach from their phones to make a good first impression.
Students are very good at holding onto their mobile devices, Erlenwein noticed. They’re less skilled at knowing what to do when adults extend their arms for handshakes.
“It’s a lost skill, a lost art,” Erlenwein said of shaking hands, so now SI Tech now conducts workshops for all 11th graders focusing on “first impressions on a college or job interview.”
