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My Consuming Frustration: “Recess should not be…denied…”

I do not care what the school’s policy is, or how the principal feels about it; denying children recess as punishment is wrong.  And—the SC Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness agrees with me.

South Carolina: Code 59-10-10 (2005) requires grades K-5 be provided with a minimum of 150 minutes of physical activity weekly. Recess or physical activity breaks: The Position Statement on School Recess of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness recommends daily supervised recess for elementary schools and prohibits the denial of such as punishment.

I found this statement online at Recess Facts: Recess Across America. Of course random information found online NEEDS to be verified.  I did a little bit of digging and was located the Position Statement regarding School Recess from the SC Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness which clearly states:

“Recess should not be viewed as a reward to children or denied in order to punish children.”

 

The full position statement with rationale can be found here: http://www.scdhec.gov/health/chcdp/physical_activity/gcpf/docs/Recess_Statement.pdf

I’m beginning to arm myself for war here…my son has had one too many sleepless and tear filled nights. He was very unhappy to go to school today because his homework folder went missing yesterday (yes he lost recess for it), and instead of giving him another folder to put his homework in he was told to go home and find it.  Without a specific place to put his homework sheets in to bring home, they were left in school. (Keep in mind the teacher has been conferenced and agreed to ensure all his work makes it to his book bag multiple times, which she continually fails to do.) So of course today will be another recess-less day because now he doesn’t have his homework sheet done AND still has no folder because it seems to have vanished.

The one child I had that LOVED going to school is starting to HATE it—Good job guys!

 

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Jeannie Davide-Rivera

Jeannie is an award-winning author, the Answers.com Autism Category Expert, contributes to Autism Parenting Magazine, and the Thinking Person's Guide to Autism. She lives in New York with her husband and four sons, on the autism spectrum.

One Comment:

  1. I have no words for this… I do have a few letters, though: WTF?

    Sometimes my son will lose recess, but really only when his behavior can endanger the other kids. Certainly not *just* because his homework folder is missing (though, admittedly, homework is often the origin of his aggressive behavior).

    Sorry you have to fight this fight. If I can help, let me know.

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