Schools try balancing recess, WASL

School recess is a child’s version of a coffee break. Kids gather around the tetherball pole the way adults gather around the water cooler.

Breaks are as important to kids as they are to adults, but as school districts look for ways to increase instructional time to meet state-mandated academic requirements, time spent on the playground may be up for grabs.

Nationally, 40 percent of elementary schools have either eliminated recess or shortened students’ free time on the playground, according to the National Parent-Teacher Association.

District officials at West Valley are deciding how to best use instructional time for students in their four elementary schools.

Superintendent Polly Crowley said they are concerned about a drop in students’ WASL scores, particularly in math.

West Valley talked to other districts that are performing better on the WASL and discovered that students there are spending more time in the classroom.

Currently, West Valley elementary students have 100 minutes each week for physical education classes; a 30-minute daily lunch/recess break; a 15-minute afternoon recess and an optional 10-minute “brain break” at the teacher’s discretion.

The district isn’t proposing a change to this schedule, Crowley said, but it is looking at the use of an additional 30-minute block of time that currently backs up to lunch time and is spent differently at each school.

One school uses the entire half-hour as playground time; one as instructional time and the other two as either playground time or time spent on an elective class.

“This is time within the student’s day and if we’ve got a real concern about math scores, isn’t that a resource that we should be looking at in terms of the kids?” said Crowley.

When word got out that the district was evaluating the schools’ schedules, parents and some teachers weren’t happy.

“Based on the little information that had come out about the proposal, there was a considerable amount of teacher opposition to it. If that’s the case, we need to find out why the teachers are opposed to it,” said Steve Wee, a Pasadena Elementary parent.

Crowley said it was a misunderstanding. The district will present information to parent-teacher focus groups recently formed at each elementary school. Together they’ll determine the best solution for the schools and these recommendations will be taken to the school board for approval.

“I think everybody expects that we’re involved in a good-faith investigation as to how to best meet the needs of the children without sacrificing the necessary recess time and play time that is also an instrumental part of socialization and academic success,” said Wee. “There is certainly a very vocal group that will oppose any changes that significantly reduces recess time.”

Until recently, East Valley elementary students had 30 minutes for lunch and 30 minutes for recess. They now have 15 minutes for each, said Trentwood principal Sigrid Brannan.

Brannan said the change is working out well. She has fewer discipline problems, and the kids have fewer bumps and scrapes than they did with a longer recess.

Central Valley School District has no policy on recess. Each school builds its own schedule, with most having a 20-minute lunch and 20-minute recess time along with a 10-minute morning recess.

“Since our focus is student learning, this is what ultimately drives the schedule – not a specific amount of time for lunch and recess per day,” said district spokeswoman Melanie Rose.

The one requirement that schools must follow is that teachers get a duty free 30-minute lunch break.