School district officials during a recent board meeting expressed concern about an Ohio House Bill that would require at least 30 minutes of recess in both the morning and afternoon for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Westlake schools superintendent expresses concern but suggests “wait-and-see” approach to bill that would expand recess requirements Westlake school district officials on Feb. 9 discussed the impact of a proposed House Bill that would increase the requirement for recess.
WESTLAKE, Ohio – School district officials during a recent board meeting expressed concern about an Ohio House Bill that would require at least 30 minutes of recess in both the morning and afternoon for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. However, Superintendent Scott Goggin and board President Liz Pirnat questioned how much support the measure would receive in the state legislature. “It sounds like there’s not a lot of legs with that, but it definitely would hit the middle school particularly,” Pirnat said.arose during a section of the board meeting devoted to pending state legislation affecting Ohio school districts. Westlake elementary and intermediate school students participate in recess periods, but none are scheduled for seventh- and eighth-grade middle school students and high school students. “As with a lot of legislation, I think there is good intent,” Goggin said. “Physical activity for kids is good. It’s nice to get kids up and moving, but once you start mandating for everybody, once you’re doing it from the state level and pushing it down, you’re taking it away from the control of locals. You run into a lot of issues.” The challenge of mandated middle school recess would involve time management due to various mandates and goals. “Our most valuable asset during the day is time,” Goggin said. “We only have so much time. The school day starts at this time, and it ends at this time. Within that, they need lunch and all the other things they do. When you mandate something like that , then something else has to go. You’re going to have kids who are interested in both band and orchestra. Can they take both if we have to take an hour out and do recess? We’re doing our STEM programming. There’s an expectation from the state about doing more career exploration in the middle grades. Something has got to give.”“I’m not an expert on what is going to move forward and what’s not, but I don’t think this has progressed very far,” Goggin said. “With this type of thing, it’s more wait and see.” Given the status of the bill, Goggin said he wasn’t sure the district needs to put a lot of energy into the issue at this time. HB 304 was referred to the House Education Committee, where its most recent hearing was last October, according to the House of Representatives website. Goggin said that if conversations about the bill move forward, he thinks questions will arise about how schools should allocate limited hours among competing interests such as recess, STEM classes, career and vocational exploration, and music programs. The bill would require school districts and other public schools to provide at least 30 minutes of recess in both the morning and afternoon for students in grades K-8. However, districts and schools would not be required to offer recess on days when a student attends a physical education class.
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