Mandatory Daily Recess for EMS ISD Elementary School Children

We, the undersigned, request that EMS ISD enact a mandatory daily recess policy for all students attending elementary schools within the EMS ISD district no later than the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year. We further request that EMS ISD direct all elementary schools in the district to immediately inform all parents of the current policy at their child's school and solicit their ideas and opinions on the policy. Currently, individual schools may, for any reason they alone deem appropriate, deny daily recess to any or all children who attend that school.

High Country Elementary School enacted a policy at the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year that denies daily recess for fifth grade students. EMS ISD School Board Policy Manual, under AF(Exhibit), Goals and Objectives, Objective Number One states, Parents will be full partners with educators in the education of their children. However, the High Country Elementary School policy that denies daily recess for fifth grade students was enacted without any parental involvement whatsoever. Additionally, parents were never even notified that the policy had been enacted in the first place. Parents cannot be full partners unless they are notified and involved major decisions affecting their children and the schools they attend. Upon appeal, the High Country Elementary School principal replied that she was unable to provide daily recess for elementary school students for the following reasons:

1. Daily recess is provided for all fifth grade students in the form of a scheduled 10-minute recess that is part of the 30-minute lunch period. Fifth grade students also are provided with an additional 40-minute recess period on Friday.

2. This same type of recess schedule is utilized by several schools in the district and has been used at High Country in the past. For this reason, it does not seem that our current schedule is a radical measure that has been undertaken.

Daily recess is NOT provided. Although children may leave the cafeteria after 20 minutes, the remaining 10 minutes is not recess, its just a way to expeditiously offer lunch to the students. In the 19 Sep 2006 edition of The Times Record, the High Country Elementary School Principal was quoted as saying, She requires the children to spend 20 minutes at lunch. Otherwise, many would simply dump the uneaten lunch in the trash and go out and play. The inference is clear; elementary school children need meaningful recess time every day.

District policy regarding elementary school recess is not standardized. Some schools within EMS-ISD offer daily recess while others do not. From the limited information that parents have been able to garner, it appears that the schools that offer daily recess are those with less than 6 classes in a given grade level. Schools with 5 or less classes in a grade level offer daily recess while those with 6 do not. Parents have not yet received an adequate explanation as to the reasoning behind the policy other than 6 classes allows teachers to be responsible for only one subject each. The resulting departmentalized teaching enables so called subject matter experts to teach only one subject. However, it also forces schools to waste at least 30 minutes every day while children are shuffled between classrooms. Given that, it appears that the only reason that some EMS ISD schools adopt the departmentalized teacher concept is for the convenience of the staff and at the expense of the elementary school students they control because daily recess far outweighs any potential benefits of departmentalized teaching for fifth grade or any other elementary grade curriculum.

Despite the claim of the High Country Elementary School principal, denial of daily recess for elementary school children IS a Radical departure from established elementary school curriculum and should have been discussed with parents BEFORE it was enacted or even considered. The national Parent Teacher Association (PTA) recognizes the importance of daily recess. In an effort to quell the growing trend of canceling recess in favor of an academic-centric curriculum, PTA launched a nation-wide campaign called Rescuing Recess. Additionally, many well-respected educators and other professionals have clearly expressed their views in favor of daily recess for elementary school children. Examples of their research can easily be found on the internet including the following web sites:

Parent Teacher Association
http://www.pta.org/ne_press_release_detail_1142028998890.html

National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP)
http://www.naesp.org/ContentLoad.do?contentId=1019

National School Boards Association
http://www.nsba.org/site/doc_micro.asp?TRACKID=&VID=38&CID=1120&DID=38663

Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) Digest, July 2002, Olga S. Jarrett
http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-2/recess.html

Education World.com, October 1998, Sharon Cromwell
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin088.shtml

Council on Physical Education for Children
http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/pdf_files/pos_papers/current_res.pdf#search=\%22elementary\%20school\%20recess\%22

National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education
http://www.esu3.org/ectc/edlinks/recess.pdf
Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting
http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/2002/jarrett02.html

ParentsAction.org
http://www.parentsaction.org/news/parents-in-action/index.cfm?i=410

Parenthood.com
http://www.parenthood.com/articles.html?article_id=9607

EagleForum.org
http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2001/oct01/recess.shtml

Adoption.Com
http://library.adoption.com/Education/No-Recess-Policies-Being-Implemented-in-US-School-Districts/article/3811/1.html

EMS ISD continues to ignore all credible research that proves daily recess for elementary school children is both a necessary and beneficial part of daily curricula. Therefore, we, the undersigned, request that EMS ISD enact a mandatory daily recess policy for all students attending elementary schools within EMS ISD no later than the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year. The resulting recess shall be no less than 15 minutes in duration and shall be in addition to the regularly scheduled 30 minute lunch period. The daily recess shall be as close to the middle of the school day as possible in order to maximize the benefits of recess to students.

We, the undersigned, further request that EMS ISD officials follow their own written objectives and empower parents to become equal partners with educators in the education of their children. That can only be done if all EMS ISD educators are open and forthright with parents by inviting their participation in major decisions affecting their children.