Mandated Recess Proposal is Heard

COLUMBIA – Children need to be able to run around and burn energy every day at school so they’re better focused in the classroom, a high school senior told a Senate panel Wednesday.

Legislation suggested by 18-year-old Libby Boerger would require elementary school students get at least 20 minutes of recess daily. The avid runner and former clogger said reports of rising childhood obesity rates prompted the idea for the legislation, which was sponsored by Sen. David Thomas, R-Greenville.

“Recess is a time children get to exercise in a fun way,” said Ms. Boerger, a Wren High School student who has interned as a first- grade teacher’s aide.

South Carolina ranks seventh nationwide in overweight children ages 10-17, at 19 percent, and ties for fifth nationwide in obese adults, at 28 percent, according to the latest report from Trust for America’s Health, a Washington-based public health research organization.

Concern for students’ health led to a 2005 state law that requires elementary students get at least 150 minutes of physical activity weekly. At least 90 minutes must come from physical education class and the remaining time can be recess, but that only breaks down to 12 minutes daily.

The Senate Education subcommittee did not vote on the bill. They said they may try to change the 2005 law, but they don’t want to micromanage classrooms.

Scott Price, a spokesman for the state School Boards Association, said the mandatory recess proposal is unnecessary. According to a district survey, elementary schools already give students between 15 and 30 minutes of recess daily, he said.

Without a daily mandate, though, teachers sometimes punish a class, or disruptive student, by taking away recess for the day. Teachers need to find a different punishment, because an unruly child needs to “get the energy out,” Ms. Boerger said.

Senators also discussed a bill that would let parents decide whether twins should be put in the same classroom. They did not vote on the proposal, saying the Legislature should not tell schools how to handle class assignments. Senators said they’ll try to change the bill to ensure administrators consider parents’ wishes.

Originally published by Associated Press.

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