By DAN TOMASELLO
Published in the December 1, 2016 edition
NORTH READING — Last week, a dozen parents met with the School Committee to discuss issues associated with recess for elementary students.
Sandra Road resident Tracy Conlon, a mother of two children currently attending the Batchelder School, recently sent a letter to the school board and Superintendent of Schools Jon Bernard outlining two concerns about elementary recess. She urged school officials to extend recess past the current 15 minutes allotted and to stop taking away recess from students as a form of discipline.
Conlon said she wants school officials to implement the two proposals by the beginning of the 2017–2018 school year.
The concerned parent said she recently administered a survey via SurveyMonkey on the North Reading Community Connection Facebook group and 166 parents “felt strongly about the issue of lengthening elementary recess.”
“Many parents feel very strongly that 15 minutes of recess is inadequate, and current research unequivocally supports the myriad benefits of extended exercise and free play for students,” said Conlon. “Experts in article after article discuss the measurable educational and social emotional benefits of unstructured outdoor time on kids, who face unprecedented levels of academic pressure at earlier ages than ever before, particularly in communities that have vigorously embraced increased standardized testing.”
Conlon said elementary students get a total of one hour and 15 minutes of unstructured playtime in addition to one hour of physical education over the course of a 31 hour and 15 minute school week. She said 29 hours is committed toward academics.
“A 30 minute recess can be straight forward to implement without lengthening the school day,” argued Conlon.
An anonymous woman in attendance echoed Conlon’s point of view. She said extending recess would help students improve academically. She also said there are more than 166 parents who support extending recess for students. There are over 1,100 elementary students in the system.
In order to extend recess to 30 minutes, Conlon proposed reducing the number of early release days. She also said 82 percent of parents who responded to the survey are “willing to have their kids attend school for a full day on Good Friday in order to gain a longer recess.”
If those two options are not feasible, Conlon proposed scheduling three additional 30-minute PE blocks into the elementary schools’ schedules, which would give students’ physical education each school day.
“Physical education is specifically outlined in the Common Core and may be considered a core subject and all PE hours count toward structured learning time,” said Conlon. “There are no mandated minimum or maximum number of hours assigned to core subjects and the DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) specifically states that time during which students are engaged in learning without a teacher present counts toward structured learning time if the learning activity in which the student is engaged is consistent with the curriculum of a core subject.”
Conlon said the guidance from DESE has led her to believe that “the PE teacher does not need to physically be with the students during additional PE days as long as the students are participating in the same PE activities currently part of the elementary schools’ PE program.”
“Paraprofessionals could easily facilitate PE activities on the extra PE days either inside or outside of the gym,” said Conlon. “The kids know each and every single PE game played and could basically run the activities themselves with minimal paraprofessional oversight.”
In addition to extending recess from 15 to 30 minutes, Conlon also claimed elementary teachers require students to go back to their classroom after lunch to “fill out a missed or incomplete homework slip or to complete their work.”
Conlon said The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement in 2013, stating the organization “believes that recess is a crucial and necessary component of a child’s development” and that “it should not be withheld for punitive or academic reasons.”
“While teacher autonomy is to be encouraged, specific guidance from the School Committee and superintendent to North Reading teachers strongly discouraging withholding all or portions of recess for academic reasons would be welcome,” said Conlon.
Scott Buckley, 5 Alden St., aired concerns about Conlon’s second recess proposal.
“I am for checks and balances,” said Buckley. “I would be a little bit concerned if the School Committee said what teachers and principals can and can’t do. Teachers have a hard job and need to have a little bit of discretion given to them. If there is a concern, it should be raised to the teacher and principal.”
School Committee member Mel Webster concurred with Buckley’s sentiment.
“It’s not under our purview to tell teachers what to do or principals what to do,” said Webster. “That is up to the administration. We have no say in this matter.”
Reaction
Bernard thanked Conlon and the other concerned parents for raising the issue. He proposed holding a meeting with Colon, other parents and school officials to discuss the recess proposals.
“I would be happy to do that,” Bernard.
Bernard noted there are some logistical issues with Conlon’s proposals such as adding a school day, extending the school day and the finances associated with the proposals.
Conlon said she appreciated Bernard’s invitation but said, “time is of the essence” with implementing her proposed recommendations.
School Committee Vice Chairman Jerry Venezia disagreed. He noted that 15 percent of the elementary school day is allocated to lunch, recess and physical education and extending recess by 15 minutes would extend that portion of the school day to 19 percent.
“I am not sure time is of the essence,” said Venezia. “Before we find a solution, we need to find out if there is a problem. I think that is where we want to start. There is enough time between now and the start of next year to respond to your request. But there are a lot of complications the Academy of Pediatrics may not be looking at when it comes to a school setting such as time of day, learning hours and teacher contracts. You polled 166 people and out of those, 156 people said they were interested in doing this. But there are a lot more parents that we haven’t heard from. I think it’s a good idea and a good suggestion that the superintendent and the elementary school principals take a look at this.”
Bernard agreed.
“I don’t want to be disingenuous,” said Bernard. “To have something in place by September is unrealistic.”
Conlon pressed the school board on the issue.
“I am looking for a yea or nay,” said Conlon. “I don’t want it to go to a subcommittee to die.”
School Committee member Julie Koepke said the recess issue is worth further discussion. She also offered to sit in during the meeting with Bernard and Conlon.
“I am a parent and also a teacher,” said Koepke. “I value recess and unstructured time. We require our kids at such young ages to sit for extending periods of time. They need that opportunity to stretch out, laugh with a friend and run around. I don’t know logistically how we can do that, but its something we can look into and it is something I am in favor of.”
Webster noted the high school and other school districts have implemented mindfulness programs such as mediation and yoga. He said instituting those types of programs at the elementary schools would be beneficial.
