A little history:

In the Fall of 2015, Parents Across RI began a petition to the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education in Rhode Island to include recess in the School Day Regulations in response to this Public Notice of the Proposed Revisions to the Regulations Governing the School Calendar and the Length of the School Day. To date, nearly 800 petitioners signed this statement, asking the council to protect recess and free play in our schools.

A public hearing was held on November 23 at RIDE to address the revisions.  While the proposed regulations dictate a school day with 5.5 hours of instructional time, there is no provision in the regulations made for recess in elementary schools. The revisions proposed at that time are here: Length_of_School_Day_and_Year_Proposed_Regulations_10_15 .

RIDE responded to the survey and the many folks who came out to support recess being included in the regulations.  Despite the public support for this, they recommended no changes to the School Day Regulations as proposed, citing the 2009 Basic Education Program “BEP”.  Read RIDE’s  response here .

Discussion on the Recess proposal can be viewed via the video provided by RIDE of the December 9 meeting .  Recess discussion begins around the 1 hour 5 minute mark.  You can read PARI’s public comment  from that night here: Recess Letter to the Council 12.9.15.

H ere some key comments made at the meeting and Parents Across RI’s response .

Last, follow up Recess Letter to the Council in January 2016, requesting a update on what RIDE plans to do now to ensure adequate recess.