Not Collecting HW = Serious Waste of Instructional Time!

My mentor teacher does not collect homework because she believes that it should be used for practice and should be readily available to students at all times to review and use as a resource. When I first heard that, I agreed wholeheartedly. I don't think that homework should be graded for accuracy because the purpose is to have kids practice their skills. And who knows what is going at home? They could be getting answers from a parent or older sibling or looking answers up on the Internet! Unfortunately though, I'm finding that collecting homework may be a better alternative to what I'm observing. So many students are not bringing their work which means that a significant amount of class time is being spent on hunting down work and getting students to come have their agendas signed. The point of homework is that it is done at home, partially to save instructional time in the classroom. This is being completely cancelled out by the THIRTY MINUTES it took to see who did and did not have their homework today!