NO BREAKS OR RECESS \doc\web\99\01\break.txt I recently saw another TV news segment on the death of recess in schools. From: CMMEHuss@aol.com Date sent: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 16:32:05 EST To: "ClearingHouse" Subject: [education-consumers] Stupid School Practices Send reply to: CMMEHuss@aol.com ===================================================================== This will probably seem like a silly thing to gripe about but it is something that has really "got my goat" all year. I recently saw another TV news segment on the death of recess in schools. It brought to mind the latest education timesaving trick forced on our school by the state department of education -- no bathroom breaks. The state mandates a certain minimum number of hours in the instructional day. Every minute of that time is to be spent on academic instruction and nothing else. Inspection teams travel to different schools throughout the year to make sure that the schools are obeying the rules. I don't have any problems with the basic idea of this policy; however, the way it is implemented in our state causes a lot of stupid consequences. Our school district's turn for one of these inspections came this year. We were warned last year not to write any kind of breaks or recess down in our plan books or on any schedules. Some teachers got inventive and came up with creative "codes" they could use to hide recess. For example, Gross Motor Coordination Activities was acceptable to have on the schedule because teaching gross motor skills (running and playing) was considered to be academic instruction. At the beginning of this year, we were again warned about recess and teachers were told that if they took the kids outside it had to be for an organized, teacher-lead activity. They couldn't just go out and play. (So much for the expensive, new playground equipment the PTO helped to buy, but at least the after-school/day care program gets to use it a lot.) The teachers were also told that they could no longer take the whole class on bathroom breaks. Instead, the teacher has to send them out in small groups to use the bathroom while the teacher keeps on teaching to the ones that are left in the room. The result of this new policy is that the students (especially the 4th and 5th grade) roam the halls and turn the bathrooms into social clubs. The classroom teacher can't leave the rest of the class to monitor the behavior in the halls and bathroom so the children are pretty much free to misbehave unless an adult passes by and chases them back to the rooms. This is also a potentially dangerous situation. Since the rash of school shootings last year, both classroom and bathroom doors are required to be kept shut. Teachers are encouraged to even lock the classroom doors throughout the day. The little windows in our classroom doors are supposed to be covered so no one can see in. The theory behind all this is that if some nut with a gun is roaming the halls, they won't be able to get in the rooms or see in the rooms to shoot at the kids. However, all these "safety precautions" leave the bathrooms and halls virtually isolated. With students traveling around at will and unsupervised, a child could be attacked, molested or taken from the building without any adult seeing it. The good intention of this policy is to make sure that the students are receiving the amount of instructional time that they are supposed to receive. The result of this policy is that children play in the halls and restrooms unsupervised instead of sitting in the classroom learning. I don't know who is more to blame for this situation -- the state department for being so inflexible and ridged, or the school district that won't extend the school day for even 15 or 20 minutes past the minimum so that recess and breaks could be worked in. God forbid that they spend money on something that might benefit the students! (By the way, lunch is not included in the instructional day so it doesn't count in the time; and, at only 25 minutes, I doubt it is possible to fit in restrooms and recess, as well as lunch.) Maybe the whole class method of going to the restroom wasted 15-20 minutes of instructional time, but at least the children were safe and supervised when they went to use the restroom. MEH ===================================================================== EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE networking and information for parents and taxpayers on the internet Subscriptions & Archives: http://education-consumers.com or You are currently subscribed to education-consumers as: arthurhu@halcyon.com TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send a blank email to leave-education-consumers-989462S@lists.dundee.net ===================================================================== For less mail, click on the following link and choose 1) a daily digest, 2) a daily list of subjects, or 3) no mail (read postings on Web) http://lists.dundee.net/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=education-consumers For more help & info: http://www.lyris.com/help or