“Homeroom” for most high school students is the equivalent of the starting blocks in a track meet. They touch base, listen to (or maybe ignore) morning announcements, and, when the bell sounds, dash off to class. In truth, “Homeroom” is important to school administrators because it gives them a head count. It’s a meaningless perfunctory exercise for kids.

For them, “Homeroom” is just a room, about as far from actually being a home as one can imagine.

That has to change. America’s teenagers desperately need more “Home” in their lives, more opportunities to connect with others, more moments that tell them they matter. The rigidity of today’s high-pressure school schedules makes matters worse, not better. 

This has always been true, but during the pandemic, when many public schools were closed, students’ mental health deteriorated, and their problems skyrocketed, as measured by visits to hospital emergency rooms.  Adolescent girls, a 50% increase! 

A CDC survey covering the years 2011-2021 does not report on the full impact of COVID, but its findings are nonetheless disturbing.

• In 2021, more than 4 in 10 (42%) students felt persistently sad or hopeless and nearly one-third (29%) experienced poor mental health.
• In 2021, more than 1 in 5 (22%) students seriously considered attempting suicide and 1 in 10 (10%) attempted suicide.

There’s a simple fix—not easy, but simple: make “Homeroom” more of a HOME, not just another room. The essential step is to extend Homeroom from a few minutes to at least a half hour and perhaps more. 

Next, work with teachers to convince them that this new time period is an opportunity for them to expand their own professional repertoire of skills to include their students’ social and emotional growth. The challenge may be to train teachers to listen and not react, in order to allow young people to identify and share their feelings. NewsWeek magazine reports that Tacoma, Washington, schools are doing this, training not only teachers but also parents and school bus drivers.

In each of these new extended Homerooms, the teacher and his/her students will have to work together to figure out how they want to use this time. Some students may want to finish homework, or sleep, but the teacher could steer the conversation in the direction of “team building.”  (See #3 in this series for suggestions.)

Perhaps one day a week could be set aside for discussion of some interesting questions (“If you could meet one figure from history, who would it be, and why?”), even trivial ones (“What questions would you like to ask Taylor Swift?”). 

One ground rule I hope all would adopt: NO phones or electronic devices allowed! 

Ideally “Homeroom” will turn into a safe space where students can learn to share and will agree that what’s shared there stays there. No bullying allowed. 

Extending Homerooms is neither a new idea nor a pipe dream. The late Ted Sizer preached and practiced this in his Essential Schools reform, and I recall seeing how well it could work. Didn’t always work, of course, because some teachers either weren’t fully committed or skilled enough, and some kids were unwilling or unable to shed their tough outer skins. 

Like many promising reforms, the expanded Homeroom sputtered and died, the victim of 1) test mania, 2) administrative indifference, and 3) the unwillingness of some teachers to do the necessary work. 

I observed a fourth factor: outright vicious hostility from guidance counselors, who felt that teachers were “invading their territory” by tending to the emotional needs of students. To them, turf meant more than the well-being of young people. Ironically, that shouldn’t be a problem this time around…because guidance counselors have all but disappeared from most public schools.

If you want to help America’s young people recover from Covid, and if you want them to reconnect, give them time and space, expand Homeroom now!

(The first six steps in this series are here: Looping, Play, Practice Democracy, Business Cards for Teachers, Involve ‘Outsiders,‘ and More “Talent Nights” If you share my commitment to public education, please share these ideas with others.)