The Great
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Debate
Skinned knees, monkey bars, making
the swing go as high as possible
Krista Knauer
T
hese are all marks of recess, which has been a key part of the
school day for as long school has existed. But during the last
decade or two, here in the state of Florida, recess has been
stolen from our children. The time amount of time allotted for recess
has always been dictated at the school and school district level. (In
fact, there was so much variety in recess in Orange County during
the 2014-2015 school year that twenty-three out of 123 schools did
not have any recess at all, some had recess only once or twice a week,
and only a few had it every day.) Now, a group of moms called Recess
Moms are taking a stand and demanding state action on recess.
It is universally acknowledged by those in the health professions,
including early childhood development and even the Center for Disease
Control, that unstructured outdoor playtime is necessary for children.
The CDC recommends at least sixty minutes of free playtime every day.
Recess is not only wonderful for the physical wellbeing of children,
but it is also crucial to the emotional and mental health of students. As
Angela Browning, an Orange County mother and one of the founding
Recess Moms, says, “We can’t treat children like mini-adults,” making
them sit still and quiet at their desks for six to seven hours a day.
Angela and her friend Amy Narvaez both had young children in
school during the 2014-2015 school year. Their children would
come home crying, begging not to go back to school, saying that
the school day was too long, and that they weren’t making friends.
They asked their kids, “Don’t you make friends during recess?”
To which their children replied, “We don’t get recess anymore.”
Why were seven year olds being given recess only once or twice a week
or none at all? Schools blamed it on new state academic standards that
schools had to meet, which meant that recess fell by the wayside. The
Orange County Public School System website states, “Fifty-seven percent
of 1,940 OCPS teachers surveyed believe they do not have adequate time
to teach the new Florida Standards during the current school day. During
this challenging transition time to more demanding standards and testing,
it would be difficult to mandate a reduction of instructional minutes.”
When Angela and Amy got fed up with the fact that their children were
not being given adequate amounts of free playtime during the day, they
enlisted the help of their fellow moms, Heather Mellet and Roberta
Brandenburg. The four of them put together a petition and made a
Facebook group, Recess for All Florida Students!. The movement
soon caught on. Mothers from all over the state began joining and
expressing their frustrations with the lack of recess. They came to
realize that appealing to schools and school boards at the local level
was not doing enough; the only way to ensure all students across the
state are given access to recess is for the state to take action and pass
legislation. So, the Recess Moms spoke to some of their local politicians
and drafted HB833 and SB1002 which would mandate twenty minutes
of recess a day, every day (including days physical education (PE) days).
The bill passed through the House of Representatives, but failed when
Senate President, John Legg, refused to allow the bill to be brought to
the floor. Although the measure did not pass all the way through, the
Recess Moms are not done fighting. They have already made some
major headway; the state issued a “recommendation” for all schools
to provide twenty minutes of recess a day, with the exception of PE
days. But Angela and the other recess moms are ready to continue
their fight in the next legislative session that begins March 2017.
You can get involved in the movement by joining the Facebook
mentioned above. Whenever there is a call to action, a need to
call, write to, and email legislators, it will be posted to the Facebook
group. Angela also encourages other parents to work with their
schools and school boards at the local level to achieve recess for all.
AUGUST 2016
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WINTER GARDEN MAGAZINE
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