Sometimes a State Representative surprises me. Today, Delaware State Representative Melanie Smith filed House Bill #10, which would change recess requirements in the State of Delaware for public schools. Bring the play back to schools!
This Act entitles all students from kindergarten through the 8th grade who are enrolled in a Delaware public school to morning and afternoon recess periods and a lunch period that is at least 30 minutes in length. Morning and afternoon break periods must be at least 10 minutes in length each. Under this Act, students are entitled to morning and afternoon breaks and a lunch period only on a full day of school.
Can I get an Amen? Before everyone starts with the “this should be a local decision”, I feel some bills should make every school district be uniform with certain things in education. This is one of them. Let’s get real. This bill would not come about if our districts and charters were doing this already. Many of them are, but not all of them. And not enough. Children need to play, especially during school. I wish those recess requirements were longer, but it is a start. We need to be emulating countries like Finland where recess is just as important as Language Arts or Math. They also have shorter school days there and are considered to be one of the best countries in the world for education.
The Chair of the House Education Committee announced today there will be one more House Education Committee meeting on Tuesday, June 27th and this bill will be heard in that committee. I am very happy to see some sanity coming back to public education. I will take the small steps while they come. Thank you for this bill Rep. Smith! I would like it if you could attend the House Education Committee meetings though!
The Season Of Myths 