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Tennessee Conservative News Staff –
Some Tennessee schools say they are struggling to stay in compliance with a new recess law as outside temperatures soar, with some areas seeing a heat index well over 100 degrees.
According to the law passed last year, it is mandated that Tennessee elementary schools provide students with 40 minutes of recess every day. This is a vast increase over the previous requirement of 130 minutes total per week.
While educators are generally in favor of the updated requirements, some say the current weather situation makes it difficult to follow the law to the fullest because it is hard for schools to accommodate indoor recess times.
JC Bowman, executive director and CEO of Professional Educators of Tennessee, says this concern was brought up to lawmakers when the now-law was still under consideration.
“For recess, it’s having to be moved indoors, and teachers are having to supervise physical education and do other things, and you have limited space,” Bowman stated.
As schools have scrambled to find adequate indoor space for physical activity, school districts have taken varying approaches to the problem. Some have modified activities to help avoid possible heat-related accidents. Others have cancelled outdoor activities altogether.
Bowman is encouraging school districts to consider moving the start date of school, with students not coming in until closer to Labor Day.
“This will pass soon; we know that,” Bowman said. “But for now, it is a real issue for both the teachers and the students.”
Meanwhile, one school district has actually gone beyond the recess requirements for elementary school students and added recess for middle school as well. After moms in the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System advocated for middle schoolers to receive the benefit of physical activity, the district incorporated unstructured activity time into the day for students in each of their eight middle schools.
The mothers, who formed a group called Say Yes To Recess, are now pushing for legislators to make this a requirement across the state.
“There is no science anywhere that we can find – that’s credible – that says recess should just stop once you hit middle school,” stated founding member Rachel Bush. “It actually recommends recess and physical activity all the way through high school, and then after that, even as adults.”
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