Update on Recess

This is an update on a previous post I wrote about my son's school and recess.

I just got off the phone with the principal of the school. She was very receptive to my letter, and frankly, agrees with me. Her hands are fairly tied about what she can do based on state legislation, but has told me that the children do get some free play (10-15 minutes) at the end of every PE class, which they have every day. This is something she helped institute at the start of this year.

I took the opportunity to broach the homework issue with her since she seemed so open. There is apparently no school, district, or state standard for homework. She told me about the 10 minutes/grade level guideline that they use, and understood how frustrating it was to watch that 10 minutes turn into an hour of battling wills. She seemed keen to learn more about the Stop Homework project, so I have directed her here to the site.

Overall, I was left feeling both satisfied and frustrated. Satisfied that the principal agreed with me, yet frustrated because she is powerless to change things at this time. We can only hope that this changes.

I want to thank Sara Bennet, of Stop Homework, for her support in this. She even posted my original letter on the Stop Homework blog.