by 
Share On Social!
Christine Davis, a parent in Madison Elementary School District in Arizona, began looking into the school districts policies regarding time for recess and daily exercise in 2015.
She made phone calls and sent emails to school administrators to gather information.
She found that from the state level down, the policies were vague and the ones that were in place were mostly focused on P.E.
This concerned her because she’s knows an active body is an active mind, so she requested the district adopt more strict policies regarding recess to ensure kids get time to exercise everyday.
Some Madison School District Government Board members agreed to discuss creating more specific guidelines for a recess policy.
Davis and other parents also started the Madison Parents for Recess group and a petition to the Madison School District superintendent, Madison School District Governing Board President, Arizona School Board Association President, Arizona Deparment of Education State Superintendent, and Governor’s Office of Education Director.
“At present, most Madison students receive a single 20-minute recess during a 400+ minute school day, which is often diminished for discipline, missed work/tutoring, weather, inefficiency in the day, special events, etc,” Davis wrote in a petition.
On March, 25, 2016, a news release informed residents of an open to the public meeting on April 19, with the Governing Board to discuss proposed policy regarding how recess is structured when creating schedules for students.
Many parents attended the meeting and spoke up about student’s need for physical activity during the school day.
On May 3, 2016, the Governing Board passed a “skeletal recess policy,” but Madison School District parents say it’s not over.
Learn more about this story here.
By The Numbers
84
percent
of Latino parents support public funding for afterschool programs
