Cutting school recess just doesn’t add up

At recess, I beat Doug Bradbury in a 100-yard dash. Angry about that, second-grader Doug waved a middle finger in my face. It was my first glimpse of an obscene gesture.

I have a ton of memories from Spokane’s Jefferson Elementary School. I was a good student. Still, I’d get bored enough to count the dots on acoustic ceiling tiles.

I lived for recess. A killer tetherball player, I loved being outside, in cold or snow, in skirts and knee socks – girls didn’t wear slacks to school in the 1960s. I couldn’t wait to burst through the heavy wooden doors onto that blacktop. Running, yelling and games of all kinds were allowed and encouraged.

One girl – one – in my whole grade was overweight. If a kid skinned a knee or had feelings hurt, well, those things happened.

“It’s recess where kids learn teamwork and social skills and all kinds of things you can’t measure,” said Mary Kenfield, head of government relations with the Tacoma-based Washington State PTA.

All these years after my playground face-off, some child advocates fear schools may no longer provide enough recess.

On Monday, the National Parent Teacher Association, with the Cartoon Network, launched a Rescuing Recess campaign. The effort has the backing of the federal Centers for Disease Control, the National Education Association and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

“Children who are physically active do better in the classroom. The research tells us that,” said Anna Weselak, National PTA president, in a press release detailing the campaign.

Common sense tells us that. But you can check out research at www.rescuingrecess.com. There, kids will also find an online letter template to help them ask school leaders to support policies mandating recess.

The campaign will include public service announcements, and the Cartoon Network will award grants to PTA groups.

According to the National PTA, more than half of the organization’s leaders in a nationwide survey said they believe daily recess is at risk; 73 percent cited the focus on academics, and 30 percent feared lack of supervisory staff.

In the Marysville School District, budget and staffing issues have cut playtime at one school. John Waldrop, principal at Shoultes Elementary School, said children get a 30-minute lunch, up to half of it playtime, plus one other 15-minute recess.

An additional 15-minute recess has been cut at Shoultes because of reductions in para-professional staff time, Waldrop said. Some teachers do try to include a second break as part of PE.

At Hawthorne Elementary School in Everett, lunch is 40 minutes, about half of it for play. There’s only one other 10-minute recess, either morning or afternoon, said Principal Betty Cobbs.

If you haven’t been on a playground in 30 years, here’s a surprise: The game of tag is a no-no.

“We always discourage tag,” Cobbs said. “It has a tendency to get too rough. Someone gets hurt, and it ends up in some sort of conflict.” Cobbs acknowledged that tag is “what kids love to do – tap somebody and run and chase.”

I knew dodgeball is frowned upon. But outlawing tag?

After the movie “Dodgeball” was a summer hit in 2004, the Sacramento Bee newspaper published an article on the regulation of recess. “Concerned about safety and injuries and worried about bullying, violence, self-esteem and lawsuits, school officials have clamped down … Gone from many blacktops are tag, dodgeball and any game involving bodily contact,” said the Bee article on Aug. 22, 2004.

Sure enough, tag is also discouraged at Shoultes Elementary.

“Tag sometimes turns into grab, push, shove and tackle,” Waldrop said. “We want to be respectful. Sometimes tag becomes more than tag.”

I don’t envy educators these days. Academic hurdles are high. Budgets are tight. And even tag is controversial.

“Kids are at school six hours, and they need a mental and physical break,” Waldrop said. “But they’re only in school six hours. How much of that time do they need for instruction?”

Kenfield, the state PTA official, has raised four kids. Two of them needed recess to “sit and reflect.” The other two, like my youngest, “had to get out and run,” she said. “Parents intuitively know what happens if those kids can’t get outside.”

Rescue recess? Sign me up.

Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.

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