Wayland Town Crier 10/21/14: Wayland students to slow down for one night. For two days this academic year – this coming Wednesday and one day in March – Wayland’s schoolchildren will be absolved of all responsibility for after-school activities.

“It is only for two days but I think … the idea behind it is more powerful,” said Wayland Middle School Assistant Principal George Benzie.
Benzie and Principal Betsy Gavron came up with the idea. “In this day and age where everybody’s so busy and doing three different sports, and even the parents have meetings and evening events … just to stop and take a breath.”

The district-wide initiative, dubbed Wayland Connects, is aimed at bringing families and the community closer together. Teachers will not assign homework, give any tests on Thursday, or set any project due dates for Thursday. School activities are canceled, and while there will be some short sports practices, there will be no games.