Anonymous
05/12/2023 13:05
Subject: Missing recess
Anonymous wrote:This used to happen to my son in Kindergarten. The teacher also had a chart where she would rate the kids behavior as green, yellow, and red. A year later, my son was officially diagnosed with ADHD and needed medication. Make me sad that I allowed this to continue for a whole year.
That used to be the norm. I was a teacher at a very well respected private school 15 years ago and everyone did the color behavior chart. Makes me cringe now to think of how awful and shaming that was.
Anonymous
05/12/2023 13:04
Subject: Missing recess
Anonymous wrote:Our school took away lunch and recess for minor stuff. They’d do it for up to a week.
Kids had to miss lunch and recess for a week for minor stuff??? I mean missing recess is bad enough but making them miss lunch is actually illegal…
Anonymous
05/12/2023 13:03
Subject: Missing recess
This used to happen to my son in Kindergarten. The teacher also had a chart where she would rate the kids behavior as green, yellow, and red. A year later, my son was officially diagnosed with ADHD and needed medication. Make me sad that I allowed this to continue for a whole year.
Anonymous
05/12/2023 11:27
Subject: Missing recess
Our school took away lunch and recess for minor stuff. They’d do it for up to a week.
Anonymous
05/12/2023 11:21
Subject: Re:Missing recess
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:One of the reasons why this might be the case is that recess is where A LOT of behavioral problems manifest because MCPS is understaffed when it comes to recess, hence why some schools are begging parents to come support during recess.
So the kids who misbehave NEED extra supervision and those supervisors might need to be inside the building doing other things, so that kid who needs extra supervision as a consequence can't be outside during recess because they've already demonstrated they can't be trusted in situations where supervision is lax.
There was a whole thread here about MCPS elementary recess and the staffing challenges related to it: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1111813.page#24319587
I get if the child is a threat to self or others. But the cases at our school is the boys were goofing off being little kids, like throwing mulch, and were made to sit by themselves outside for the entire recess period.
Throwing mulch is t a big deal until it hits some kid in the face and causes a major eye injury. If they’ve been told and can’t listen it does turn into a threat.
Anonymous
05/12/2023 11:14
Subject: Missing recess
It’s not allowed in mcps. I went thru this pre Covid. A lunch aide made the decision my kid should miss recess for “ talking during lunch”. Spoke to teacher and she said lunch aides can’t make those decision. I put something in writing/email and it didn’t happen again.
Anonymous
05/12/2023 11:11
Subject: Re:Missing recess
Anonymous wrote:Are they having their whole recess taken away? At our elementary school, the consequence was missing the first 5 minutes of recess.
Yes
But it seems even five minutes of recess taken away is not allowed as a consequence
Anonymous
05/12/2023 11:11
Subject: Missing recess
Anonymous wrote:OP here. It’s definitely being taken away and the kids have to sit outside by themselves for the entire recess period and watch their classmates play. It seems cruel and I’m glad to hear that this is not supposed to be allowed.
That doesn’t totally sound like missing recess in the traditional sense. Is it possible that the behavior is so out of control that it poses a safety issue? There aren’t a lot of staff to manage the number of kids.
If it were my kid I would hope that I knew that the behavior was so bad to resort to this and that I was addressing it. But I’d also be calling the school to find out what was the tipping point and what they need from me and what the next steps are. If it wasn’t my kid, I’d let it alone because no one is going to tell me anything anyway.
Anonymous
05/12/2023 11:11
Subject: Re:Missing recess
Anonymous wrote:One of the reasons why this might be the case is that recess is where A LOT of behavioral problems manifest because MCPS is understaffed when it comes to recess, hence why some schools are begging parents to come support during recess.
So the kids who misbehave NEED extra supervision and those supervisors might need to be inside the building doing other things, so that kid who needs extra supervision as a consequence can't be outside during recess because they've already demonstrated they can't be trusted in situations where supervision is lax.
There was a whole thread here about MCPS elementary recess and the staffing challenges related to it: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1111813.page#24319587
I get if the child is a threat to self or others. But the cases at our school is the boys were goofing off being little kids, like throwing mulch, and were made to sit by themselves outside for the entire recess period.
Anonymous
05/12/2023 11:10
Subject: Re:Missing recess
Are they having their whole recess taken away? At our elementary school, the consequence was missing the first 5 minutes of recess.
Anonymous
05/12/2023 11:08
Subject: Re:Missing recess
One of the reasons why this might be the case is that recess is where A LOT of behavioral problems manifest because MCPS is understaffed when it comes to recess, hence why some schools are begging parents to come support during recess.
So the kids who misbehave NEED extra supervision and those supervisors might need to be inside the building doing other things, so that kid who needs extra supervision as a consequence can't be outside during recess because they've already demonstrated they can't be trusted in situations where supervision is lax.
There was a whole thread here about MCPS elementary recess and the staffing challenges related to it: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1111813.page#24319587
So the kids who misbehave NEED extra supervision and those supervisors might need to be inside the building doing other things, so that kid who needs extra supervision as a consequence can't be outside during recess because they've already demonstrated they can't be trusted in situations where supervision is lax.
There was a whole thread here about MCPS elementary recess and the staffing challenges related to it: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1111813.page#24319587
Anonymous
05/12/2023 10:57
Subject: Missing recess
OP here. It’s definitely being taken away and the kids have to sit outside by themselves for the entire recess period and watch their classmates play. It seems cruel and I’m glad to hear that this is not supposed to be allowed.
Anonymous
05/12/2023 10:54
Subject: Missing recess
I was part of the process in AACPS that got it formalized that recess is never to be used as a punishment (with exceptions for safety issues)
Still, some teachers threaten it, although as far as I know at my kids school they've never actually taken it away.
Still, some teachers threaten it, although as far as I know at my kids school they've never actually taken it away.
Anonymous
05/12/2023 10:49
Subject: Missing recess
Anonymous wrote:My kids’ mcps elementary school will have the kids miss recess as a consequence for “misbehavior”. This makes me angry and sad- obviously the kids who tend to misbehave are the ones who need recess time to get their energy out the most. Is this common practice at schools?
No- not anymore at least. Recess taken away is not supposed to be an MCPS consequence. Reach out to counseling and the admin to see what's going on. Maybe they moved it indoors for concerns? But I would definitely reach out if I heard that.
Anonymous
05/12/2023 10:03
Subject: Missing recess
My kids’ mcps elementary school will have the kids miss recess as a consequence for “misbehavior”. This makes me angry and sad- obviously the kids who tend to misbehave are the ones who need recess time to get their energy out the most. Is this common practice at schools?