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Dawn Hadlock has an active lunch with son Davin, 8, two or three times a week.
'We do our own little parent recess,' says Dawn Hadlock, with son Davin at the park. |
By PAMELA GOULD
Dawn Hadlock started meeting her third-grade son for lunch at Courtland Elementary two or three times a week this school year after learning that daily recess had been cut to 15 minutes.
"We have a picnic outside and kick a soccer ball," she said. "We do our own little parent recess."
Hadlock learned through a back-to-school letter from Principal Sherri L. Steele that daily recess was being shortened by half this year for third- through fifth-graders in Spotsylvania County schools.
"To provide more instructional time, adjustments have been made to 'recess' time (formerly referred to as 'teacher P.E.'). Students in grades K-2 will receive 30 minutes of recess daily and grade 3-5 will receive 15 minutes per day," the letter states.
In addition, elementary students also get 45 minutes per week with the school's physical education teacher.
The school division started an "intervention and enrichment block" for 45 minutes per day this year to give teachers time to work with students who are falling behind or to allow those who are doing well to get opportunities to expand their mastery of a subject, Steele explains in the letter.
Hadlock isn't the only parent displeased with the recess reduction.
Five parents spoke at the last school board meeting--all in opposition to the change--and more are expected at the next meeting on Monday.
One parent brought the School Board a copy of an article on the value of unstructured play time. Another questioned the emphasis on designing the school day to meet test results.
A third noted the irony from a health perspective of cutting recess time but rewarding kids for good behavior with "pizza with the principal." This parent asked the board to have principals track absenteeism and discipline problems, expecting both to increase.
The fourth said her fourth-grader got his short recess eliminated as punishment for talking.
And parent Janine Wilson said recess provided her son the chance to develop social skills he couldn't learn sitting inside a classroom.
Although he is academically gifted, he suffered from severe social anxiety as a third-grader, she said. With counseling and support from teachers, he was learning to interact with his peers on the playground the next year.
"For some children, it's the only way they have to learn how to be part of a social group," Wilson told the board.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The new schedule implemented at elementary schools this year resulted from the work of a roughly 20-member committee of principals and central-office instructional staff who met last year and received input from a consultant.
The School Board did not vote on the changes and the administration--not the consultant--decided the time for recess.
The purpose of the changes was to improve student achievement and build consistency in instruction across schools, said Julie Hurst, who serves as both director of elementary education and executive director of curriculum across all levels.
Consultant Michael D. Rettig, whose specialty is school-day scheduling, met with the committee and principals in March and June. He spent 5 days with principals across all grade levels and was paid $11,681.23--covering his $2,000-per-day fee, mileage and meals.
Rettig is a former school teacher and principal who retired in 2006 after 15 years as an education professor at James Madison University. He now operates School Scheduling Associates and lives in Charlottesville, according to his Web site.
In his writings, Rettig notes that the lack of consistent scheduling across classrooms at the elementary level leads to inefficient delivery of instruction in core subjects, lack of common planning time for teachers, and disruptive scheduling of subjects such as art, music and physical education.
Recess got trimmed as a result of scheduling of the core subjects, but Hurst stressed that the 15 minutes for third- through fifth-graders is to be actual recess, not counting the time it takes to get kids outside.
"I've emphasized the 15 minutes starts when the kids hit the pavement," Hurst said. "Hopefully, that has been clarified and rectified."
She also said recess is never to be withheld as punishment.
School division policy calls for all students to get an average of 150 minutes per week for physical fitness but Hurst and Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Edlow Barker stressed the policy states it's "a goal."
Further, Hurst said that 150 minutes includes before- and after-school clubs, not just activity during the school day.
This school year she hopes to establish a committee to find ways to encourage students to take part in more physical activity before and after school. She has offered parents who have called about recess to serve on the committee but said, thus far, only one has expressed interest in participating.
Hurst said the staff likes the new scheduling overall.
"Reports from administrators and teachers are overwhelmingly positive right now. They love it," she said.
SEEKING RESTORATION
Initial reports to the central office may be positive, but at least three School Board members say they'd like to find a way to get upper elementary students back to 30 minutes of daily recess.
Retired elementary teacher Linda Wieland said she supported the new scheduling when the board first heard about it, but didn't realize youngsters would lose some of their play time.
She would have had concerns because she knows children need "wiggle room" in their day.
"If you're teaching a subject for too long and they're not focusing, you're not getting anywhere," she said.
Wieland said this week that she's been gathering information from teachers about how it's working and plans to talk to central office staff about the issue.
Board member Donald Holmes, a former Marine, said he understands the need for both children and adults to move and would like to see if there's a way to allocate more time for it into the school day.
Amanda Blalock said she wanted to understand more about the thoughts behind the decision, but said she hoped to restore the lost recess time.
"I'm strongly of the opinion they need their 30 minutes of recess," she said.
Ray Lora said he's still evaluating the issue.
Parent Janine Wilson is concerned the school division may have lost some perspective.
"I think that we've become so concerned with test scores, we've lost sight that these are human beings, children," she said.
Dawn Hadlock is concerned about the health of all children and her youngest child's dimming enthusiasm for school.
"In light of the health crisis we have in this country, it just seems backwards to me," she said.
"My son used to love school," she added. "This is the first year he's complained.
"He's begging me to homeschool him."
Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972
Email: pgould@freelancestar.com
The Spotsylvania County school division implemented structured instructional scheduling at the elementary level this year. The goal is to "increase emphasis on the core academic curriculum." Below are the advantages the school division sees to the new scheduling: All classes in a grade level are taught the same subject for the same amount of time to build consistency in curriculum implementation in schools and across the division. All teachers on a grade level have a common daily planning time. Schools have a daily, 45-minute "intervention and enrichment" period at all grade levels. This period allows classroom teachers and specialists such as those for special education, math, reading, English as a second language and others to work with small groups of students with a focus on reading and math. All students continue receiving daily instruction in "encore" classes (art, music, P.E., Spanish, etc.). Students in kindergarten through second grade receive 30 minutes of scheduled recess. Students in third through fifth grade receive 15 minutes of scheduled recess each day. |
The Spotsylvania County School Board meets Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Administrative Services Building, 8020 River Stone Drive in the River Run Business Center. Public comment time, limited to five minutes per speaker, is part of each meeting. |
