On Thursday, Aug. 30, more than 3,200 Guilford students will get up, grab their backpacks, and head out the door for the first day of the new school year. While the district has no new high school to unveil this year or a big program to premier like the International Baccalaureate program, several small, but meaningful, changes are in the works to ensure all students have the best year possible.

When students head back to school, there will be a couple of noticeable changes. Windows have been replaced at Baldwin Middle School; Melissa Jones Elementary School has a new roof; the new turf field at the high school still isn’t fixed; and every student will arrive at school a little later in the morning than in previous years.

This past summer the Board of Education voted to shift school start times, sliding the high school back 15 minutes, the middle schools back 10 minutes, and the elementary schools back by five minutes. The new school bus company makes most of that time shift possible, according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Paul Freeman. However, he asked that parents be patient the first few weeks of school as everyone settles into the new bell schedule and new bus company.

“We are asking everyone to understand that the beginning of any year is always a shakeout period and this year might be a greater shakeout period,” he said. “We need people contacting us if they see something that doesn’t seem right, but we also appreciate them being patient and giving us the opportunity to work out these changes that we have put into place.”

In terms of instruction, Freeman said the schools are focusing on continuing the high standard of teaching and learning already in place. There was very little turnover in teaching staff this year and elementary class sizes are sitting comfortably with an average of 18 students per class. With all of that in place, Freeman said there is going to be a larger, umbrella focus centering on the whole child this year.

Health and Wellness

Throughout the multi-year debate over school start times, a lot of the conversation turned to student mental health and stress in general. School officials said a lack of sleep played a role in that conversation, but making sure students get more sleep isn’t the only way to reduce stress and anxiety. This year, Freeman said the district is looking at the whole picture—everything from social media to homework—to find ways to reduce student stress and anxiety, while maintaining a strong academic focus.

Some choices were simple. The high school will no longer report class rank so students won’t compete for it, but other elements such as the amount of homework is a more nuanced discussion.

“We want teachers to be really thoughtful around homework. We want teachers to be sure that homework isn’t simply busy work and isn’t just something to keep kids busy at home,” he said. “The homework committee, when it talked, actually talked about fallow time and [how] kids need downtime. Related to that, this year we are going to continue the discussion around recess and free play and [ask] how do we make sure that around the busy day we are required to create, how do we make sure that kids have opportunities for downtime and unstructured play.”

In addition, Freeman said teachers are looking at how students are tested and the value those assessments have in learning. Freeman said looking at things like homework and exams doesn’t mean the schools are suddenly going to have fun Fridays or eliminate homework and tests, it just means the district is focusing on making sure there is a point a purpose to homework and tests.

“Its about doing instruction right so that we build capacity and that we build students who are engaged and resilient learners,” he said, “not avoiding rigorous instruction because that makes people nervous or anxious.”

All of that boils down to teaching students how to deal with a certain amount of stress. Freeman said you never want to push a student to the brink, but you also don’t want to eliminate stress entirely because a certain amount of stress is just a part of life. Freeman said the key is teaching students how to properly handle appropriate amounts of stress.

“We need to design the learning experiences in a way that students learn how to deal with stress,” he said. “The learning experience should be challenging, should be engaging, should be pushing you to the edge of your comfort zone and in fact should be giving you the opportunity to make mistakes. They will learn that mistakes are survivable and educational. If we do that more often and more intentionally, we can create the opportunity for kids to know how to manage stress.”

Students have to practice with stress Freeman said, the same way you practice a sport or a language to learn the material. He said if students are taught to deal with stress in healthy ways, they can become better learners as their education progresses.

“We don’t want kids to fail, but learning from mistakes is important,” he said. “There is a certain immunizing effect to normal levels of stress.”

Safety and Security

In addition to a few building upgrades, including a new visitor badging and identification system at the high school, the district has partnered with Sandy Hook Promise.

“It’s an anonymous reporting system that includes an app. We have been working with them all summer and we have been doing that in partnership with the Guilford Police Department,” he said. “We should be rolling that out to the community in October and then we are also doing some enhanced teacher training around security and safety and lockdown training...We have revised our staff training around safety procedures.”

Freeman said he is looking forward to a good solid school year.

“It’s a year of deepening our instructional expertise, supporting social and emotional health and wellness, and focusing on safety and facility concerns as well,” he said.