Middle School Recess coming to FCPS

[Anonymous]

^ and I also have a daughter who has her period. She asks a teacher to use the bathroom during class when needed.

[Anonymous]

The secondary schools all piloted it this year. We already have 7 minute passing periods, so they just extended one of them by 8 minutes to make a 15 minute break. The kids all hang out in the locker bays to chat, go vape in the bathrooms, or sit in their classrooms on their phones.

A break is all well and good (as a teacher I appreciate knowing I have time to use the bathroom!) but calling it recess is silly. It’s just an extended passing period.

[Anonymous]

I taught middle school for years and years. The last week or two of school when kids weren’t dressing out anymore and SOLs were done, the PE teachers used to take their kids out on the field with a zillion balls and jump ropes and hula hoops and toys/equipment. The result was the teachers and 10% of kids playing, and 90% staring at phones in isolation sitting around the edge of the field. It was creepy. I saw the same thing at multiple schools.

A 15 minute break without being forced outside or being given equipment and direction is going to result in 99% staring at their phones for those 15 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Isn't this the purpose of PE?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middle school teacher here. Our 15 minute "break" (recess time) happens during our lunch block. In that block, kids will have a 30 minute lunch, a 15 minute break, and an 85ish minute class. The break is great, but we've had challenges with giving the kids structure and providing appropriate activities. Our equipment is very limited, and not all classes have access to a safe area for play. For example, my class is assigned to have break in a small courtyard by the staff parking lots, while other classes can go to the blacktop and field area. It's good for the kids to have the break, but its implementation definitely needs to be rethought.

This is how we did it at a MS that I used to work out. Kids got in groups talked, walked around and maybe there one. A small game of basketball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As one of the early proponents of Middle School recess, this is why I think it's essential.

1. Right now, my daughter gets to school at 7:15 in the morning and doesn't see the sun until 2:15 in the afternoon. She goes from Algebra to science to English without even a small break. As an adult, I can't go from meeting to meeting to meeting without a small break to clear my head.

2. All these people who say no one should get a break because a small segment of the population might have sex or get into a fight on school grounds are wrong. First of all, fights are going to happen - its better if it happens where adults are around to deal with the consequences. If kids are having sex on school grounds as 13 and 14 year olds, then a lot of failures happened. Recess is not going to change that and let's not punish the vast majority who will use that time constructively.

3. Most importantly, girls are getting their periods at that age. Right now, my daughter has one 30-minute break during those 7 hours. She sometimes has to choose between eating lunch and going to the bathroom. That is not a fair choice.

4. All over this country, kids in middle school are having recess. In California, we had 2 breaks - 20 minutes brunch and a 40-minute lunch. Kids learned how to interact with their peers, used the time to study if they needed to and went outside for fresh air. Middle Schools in FCPS treat the kids like they are one step away from Rikers. It's not healthy for anyone.

All kids from K-12 need an outdoor break between classes. Keeping them inside from 7:30 to 2:30 or 4:00 creates behavior and health problems. Breathing air, being in the sun/ filtered sun, and looking at blooming plants will help everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ and I also have a daughter who has her period. She asks a teacher to use the bathroom during class when needed.

DP here , I don’t have a MS kid but I’ve heard things from my friends and CWers with older kids. I’ve heard that the bathrooms are closed or very heavily discouraged/use of them is punished or restricted during the day/during class time because of kids doing dumb kid stuff in there? The “tearing the soap dispensers off the wall” kind of dumb stuff. Or teachers will tell the kids they get 3 bathroom breaks per semester or something. It sounds like they can’t really rely on class time to take a bathroom break is what I’m hearing.

[Anonymous]

My DD at Franklin has a half hour recess. She said they basically walk around the field (girls) while the sporty fast boys who get to the basketball courts first play basketball. She hates it bc it messes her hair up and she's freezing cold (her words not mine) (and don't try to say wear more appropriate clothes unless you want your head bit off).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD at Franklin has a half hour recess. She said they basically walk around the field (girls) while the sporty fast boys who get to the basketball courts first play basketball. She hates it bc it messes her hair up and she's freezing cold (her words not mine) (and don't try to say wear more appropriate clothes unless you want your head bit off).

+1, my DD would just prefer the day end a bit earlier than have recess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't this the purpose of PE?

PE is structured and 95% of kids past 6th grade HATE PE

[Anonymous]

fcps sucks so those kiddies can use a break from all the corruption and bullshit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ and I also have a daughter who has her period. She asks a teacher to use the bathroom during class when needed.

DP here , I don’t have a MS kid but I’ve heard things from my friends and CWers with older kids. I’ve heard that the bathrooms are closed or very heavily discouraged/use of them is punished or restricted during the day/during class time because of kids doing dumb kid stuff in there? The “tearing the soap dispensers off the wall” kind of dumb stuff. Or teachers will tell the kids they get 3 bathroom breaks per semester or something. It sounds like they can’t really rely on class time to take a bathroom break is what I’m hearing.

My kids have had a lot of complaints over school, but lack of bathroom access has never been one of them. It was better for DD in middle school than using the elementary school bathroom in the classroom that didn’t have a lock when she had her period. In their experience, bathrooms were only really limited for the kids taking advantage. Like the ones asking to go every day and being gone for 30 min. I only heard of DS saying one bathroom was closed during classes because of vaping issues. This only came up because he had to walk to one further way because the “vaping bathroom” was locked now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Supervised recess would be offered to middle school students every day for 15 minutes and to elementary school students in two separate 15-minute segments “as practicable.”

We currently have a 30 minute recess at the ES level. I hope we can keep that rather than two 15-minute blocks.

They tried this a few years ago at elementary level when 30 minutes became required. Most schools found the transitions for 2 times to be a hassle and went back to a 30 minute block.

As a teacher, I want the 30 minute block and 5-10 minute brain break in the morning outside

+1, this was impractical in ES. As soon as you walked to the playground, a third of recess was already over.

+1
Our 30 minute recess (on paper) is cut short by about 6 minutes so that we can get to lunch on time. The scheduled ends at the same time lunch begins.

[Anonymous]

I'm a fan, though initially I thought it was a waste.

I changed my mind because I realized that I work long hours. Sometimes I get frustrated and angry when I sit at my desk. I regularly get up and go for walks to clear my head and move my legs. I come back to my desk and feeling a bit refreshed. I'm 43 and I've needed these mini-breaks from my desk for the past 2 decades.

I imagine that our kids - even in MS - need the same. 15 minutes will give them a mental break and the ability to stretch their legs.

I'm all for it.

[Anonymous]

One of my kids is an 8th grader at a K-8 Catholic school and they have recess daily - the kids shoot hoops, the girls walk the field together chatting, some play tether ball, kick the ball around...then go back inside for lunch.
20 min.