Dear Dr. Cavanna, As a parent of a student at Roosevelt Middle School, I respectfully urge you to support a district-wide policy of homework-free weekends and holiday breaks for all students. As you may know, schools across the country have already experimented with homework-free academic breaks and weekends to great effect. Success stories are already popping up in Ridgewood, New Jersey; Menlo Park, California; and Gaithersburg, Maryland, to name just a few. The benefits of homework-free weekends and holiday breaks can be revolutionary. For students, engagement with learning increases. Graduation rates go up. Physical and mental health improves. The pressure to cheat plummets. For families, time is gained for shared conversation, meals and visits with far-flung relatives. And more balanced homework loads relieve parents from a second shift as “homework wardens”. Most of all, a homework-free weekend and holiday break policy sends a powerful message to our children: a message that we value making time for unstructured learning, health, play, family, friendships and creative pursuits in the hours outside the seven-hour school day.