You can get a lot done in 15 minutes: Make a quick lunch, fold a load of laundry, take a shower. But is it enough time for a 6-year-old to play outside during recess?
Parents in metro Atlanta say no. Amanda Haymore re-enrolled her kids in Cobb County schools recently after living in South Africa, where her youngest son was getting three recesses a day. In Cobb County, she said he gets one 15-minute break.
“I just saw him wither,” Haymore said. “He started acting out at home. He was frustrated and aggressive. It was just such a change.”
Parents in DeKalb noticed similar changes with their children this year, when some schools cut into recess time in favor of more instruction. After parents advocated for about two months for more time, district leaders announced Monday that each of its elementary schools would have 30 minutes of recess each day by January. School board members said they want to update their policy too, so this isn’t an issue in the future.
The change means DeKalb will be an outlier among metro Atlanta school districts, according to policies reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Most school systems around Atlanta don’t outline a minimum required recess for elementary students, instead leaving it up to principals to decide. Few require more than 15 minutes: The policy in Atlanta Public Schools states elementary students should have an average of 30 minutes per day; Fulton County requires 30 minutes on days students do not have physical education; and Henry County “encourages” 20-30 minutes. Some parents want a statewide minimum.
Experts agree recess and unstructured break time are good for kids. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends children and adolescents have at least 60 minutes of daily physical activity.
The American Academy of Pediatrics calls recess “a crucial and necessary component of a child’s development.” It increases their physical activity, improves their memories and attention spans, reduces disruptions during class time and helps with their social and emotional development, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But a study published last year found that Georgia schools are offering recess less frequently and for shorter durations after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In DeKalb, the change in recess time was tied to efforts to improve student achievement. Last year, 53% of third graders in the district were reading at or above grade level, but only 29% scored at or above grade level on the state’s English language arts assessment. To improve those scores, the district is now requiring 120 minutes of English language arts instruction per day for its youngest students. In some schools, this meant cutting into recess time.
But state Rep. Demetrius Douglas, D-Stockbridge, who has long championed recess in Georgia schools, said this thinking was flawed: “It’s hindering kids instead of helping kids.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
DeKalb parents agreed. School started Aug. 4, and on Aug. 6 parents created an online petition calling for 30-minute recess in DeKalb. It quickly racked up hundreds of signatures.
“I’ve never seen a petition take off with 2,000 names almost overnight,” said State Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates. But she understood. She has twins in the first grade in DeKalb.
“Basically what they get to do is they line up, they go out, they get to get on one piece of equipment, then they get to line up again and they come back inside,” she said. “They really don’t have recess.”
Parents went to the Aug. 11 school board meeting to ask the board to take action. On Aug. 15, the district announced it would meet with parents and others to find a solution. More than 400 people applied to be a part of the discussion; just 12 people (three parents, three teachers, three principals and three district staffers) met in a closed-door meeting in September. As a result of that meeting, the district announced this week it would give school leaders a “menu of options” to update their schedules to allow for 30 minutes of recess each day.
“I’m thrilled,” said board member Allyson Gevertz. “Next, I really hope they’ll look at middle school. We need these kids to have unstructured time.”
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
It’s good news — but parents like Susana Giackero, one of the founding members of 30 For Recess, need a little more. She hopes DeKalb County’s legislative delegation will pass a law specific to the district requiring 30 minutes of recess at a minimum, to ensure the district doesn’t move backward in the future.
“The first step is to get DeKalb countywide legislation in place, and then our efforts would be toward a state law,” Giackero said.
Although Drenner thinks a local bill may be doable, a statewide change would be a heavier lift. It’s not a new topic for the Georgia Legislature. The state passed a law in 2022 that requires schools to give elementary students daily recess. A few years before that, Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed a bill that would have required 30 minutes of recess a day. Lawmakers wanted to leave it up to local school systems, Douglas said.
Georgia was the 10th state in the U.S. to pass a law requiring recess. But other states take it a step further and set minimum time requirements. Florida, Missouri and New Jersey, for example, require at least 20 minutes per day. Tennessee lawmakers passed a law this year requiring 40 minutes of recess a day for elementary students, thanks to efforts by moms in the state who formed a group called Say Yes to Recess.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Haymore, in Cobb County, started a Georgia chapter in the hopes of passing something similar to Tennessee’s law. The group has found that passing a law is the best way to make change in this area. She hopes more state lawmakers will see the need.
“I think this is inevitable,” Haymore said. “It seems like the world is realizing that we need balance.”
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