Child playing. (Photo by Danny Fulgencio)
Students of the Richardson ISD will be in school and extra 10 minutes a day starting in 2016-17. Some parents think it’s the right time to expand recess time as well.
Those parents just posted a petition, which explains their request in detail and allows other parents, guardians, staffers and administrators to weigh in.
“RISD’s current recess policy provides elementary students with 15 minutes of recess per day within a 7 hour school day. Starting with the 2016-2017 school year, RISD schools will start an extra 10 minutes earlier than the current schedule,” the petition begins. It goes on to refer to the LIINK program, which adds recess in small increments throughout the days.
Update: Richardson ISD spokesman Tim Clark says the recess time, based on district policy, is 20 minutes a day for students in grades K-4 and 16 minutes a day in grades 5-6. “The time scheduled for recess is separate from the 135 minutes a week of state-required physical activity,” he adds.
“Some DFW area schools have implemented programs through the LIINK Project, in which they incorporated four 15 minute recess breaks throughout the day, for a total of one hour of recess a day. Principals, teachers and parents at those schools have been impressed with the results,” the petition reads.
It also notes that Dallas ISD recently approved a policy to expand recess time.
“The DISD Board recently approved a mandatory recess policy requiring 30 minutes of daily recess. Other schools, such as Frisco ISD and Houston ISD, have also adopted or recommended policies of at least 30 minutes of daily recess,” it continues.
The petition also includes information provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“The AAP finds that ‘to maximize cognitive benefits, recess should be scheduled at regular intervals, providing children sufficient time to regain their focus before instruction continues.’ In addition, ‘minimizing or eliminating recess may be counterproductive to academic achievement, as a growing body of evidence suggests that recess promotes not only physical health and social development but also cognitive performance.'”
The parents who wrote the petition say they “ask educators and education administrators to view recess as a valuable and essential component of our children’s academic development.”
Read the petition in full, and/or sign it, here.
We will be following the RISD recess proposal and talking to some of the parents behind the movement, so check back here for more soon.
