Hello all. Just an update to say that the interview yesterday with the newspaper went very well! Being able to present the real issue and point out the road blocks was the break we have been waiting for! Now it's onward to the bigger fish in our ISD’s Administration. Best of all I truly believe the State Representative whose door we have been knocking and knocking on will be blown wide open when the article is published.
We interviewed at the city park that is directly across the street from my son's elementary school. The weather was glorious! And the spacious playground with all the modern equipment was completely empty! Many pictures were taken of the petition (1,678 signatures!) and the playground as a background.
I might be overly excited, but I believe that picture has to make an impression. It scheduled for the Sat. edition and I'll keep you posted on the progress or repercussions stemming from.
Thank for all your advise/comments/and suggestions. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Sandy in Texas
Howdy again from Texas DaveP. & Thanks again for your reply and interest in the issue(s) of my concern.
Reading your latest post I am VERY HAPPY and EXCITED to tell you that FINALLY we (and our petition) will be the subject of local media attention! We have an interview scheduled for tomorrow! I’ll keep you posted.
About the recess and “personal breaksâ€, our school had, until this year, several opportunities for the kids to have “personal breaks†from their structured day which included at least one daily 20-30 min. recess, and another free time recess period after lunch daily. Neither applies this year. What the children have now is 3 days of P.E. Physical Education (which I am all for!!) But it is still instructional, and not the same nor can it replace recess (free play). The two days a week the kids don't have P.E. they get one 10 min. break. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education has released a position paper on the subject titled: “Recess and the Importance of Play†which states ; “that, while recess is an essential component of the elementary school program, it is inappropriate to substitute recess for physical education or physical education for recess. The paper also addresses the fact that recess provides the opportunity for young children to develop and improve many social, life, and physical skills.â€
But we already know that! Right?
Anyway DaveP, I hope you and all the members of this fantastic forum keep an eye out for the trend of deleting recess in the name of progress in your own school districts and remember me. We have to be the children’s advocates and this is a basic right worth fighting for!
Sak...Thank you!! And your suggestions are exactly the path we are following. We have definitely realized that the only way to reinstate and secure recess in our schools is at the state level (mandate it!) and are targeting the State Representatives with our petition.
Addressing this forum I already knew where and how far we (recess supporters) have to travel to make the changes necessary to secure our children’s rights to a daily recess (free play) break in Texas. However, the brick walls along the “politically correct†pathway (I was directed to take this route by our Asst. Super of ISD) has been more enlightening than ever imaginable. And a real concern for many of us. But It’s been fun to see the opinions hashed out here at the forum, and I have and am learning so much!
The recess issue and the PTO. It is obvious that the PTO is not going to get itself invloved in helping you do what you want because they support what has been done. The fact the President is on the baord that made the detremination to reduce the recess about sumed this up.
You have given this a good try to get the policy changed and that is not happening. The reasons I think are obvious it is now an "us vs them" issue. The towers and walls are manned the draw bridge has been raised and a state of siege has been declared.
As for 1300 signatures (now 1500) I am not surprised over this, to petition a change is not limited to just parents - why shuld it be? Are the parents the only people with a view on this? it would be nice if you seperated out the parents, grandparents from other concerned persons though, this would be ammunition to use if the number is signifigant.
Also this is Texas we are talking about here! The Principal does have the say on this issue. Going to the school board without some real power begind you will be next to useless. Although the petition may appear to be power it isnt until it is used as a power. To accomplish that you have to hit a politican where they can get hurt the most - the media. This is not an issue the local media will ignore. Letters to the editor will work wonders also! Then once you have the media support you hit the school board with this - make sure the media knows when this will be on a school board agenda [img]smile.gif[/img]
Sorry if this seems one sided (siding with Sandy on what to do to move this forward), we really do not know the otherside of the coin here. The reduced recess if explained may seem reasonable to many of us if we did know. On a personal level I do not see how a reduced recess can be explained though, someone here has forgotten or never learned the fact that children learn more at play then they do in any other setting! Recess is not just a way to burn up a half hour or more a day, it serves a real purpose in the educational development of a child, so I am at a loss here to understand why an educator would do this in the first place, yet once again I do not know their story so I do not want to appear judgemental.
As a side note we have a 15 minute recess period! Thats it only 15 minutes for the entire day for all grade levels (except nap time for K and PK, etc). But our kids get 45 minute breaks! We have a 30 minute period that is used for PE (this does not cut into time for health either), we tend to combine these times for the higher grade levels. I wonder if this is the case at this school? I never thought to ask that question before [img]smile.gif[/img]
I'll leave the discussion relating to the political involvement of your PTO to others who are much more knowledgable about the issue. I think you're right to keep fighting for daily recess for the children in your school. What I haven't been able to determine is who made the decision to eliminate daily recess, the principal or the district? Why was this decision made?
I like the idea of contacting people further up the food chain to have them address the issue. Contact the school district's board of directors. Contact your state legislator. Contact the governor's office. Contact your congressional representatives and senators. Contact the media. Contact any group, locally and nationally, whose mission is the support and well being of children. Keep fighting, keep raising this issue wherever and whenever you can. Maybe you can organize an e-mail campaign. Ask people who have signed the petition to contact their state and national representatives. If the offices of these elected officials start getting a lot of e-mails and phone calls supporting daily recess, the elected officials are bound to sit up and take notice.
