MARBLEHEAD — After the School Committee passed its flag policy 4-1 Thursday night, it also performed a first reading for the drafted Elementary Recess Policy for grades K-6.
The policy states that “all elementary students in grades K-6 shall be provided with no fewer than two scheduled recess periods per school day, totaling a minimum of 35 minutes of recess time.” This policy is “in alignment with the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP),” and it “affirms the district’s commitment to the physical, social, and emotional well-being of elementary school students.”
Vice Chair Alison Taylor explained: “We’ve always had two recesses. A previous administration one year decided to remove one of our recesses. There was pandemonium – teachers and community members and parents alike – over that, and it was put back.”
Committee member Sarah Fox added that she “would go as far as to say” that “it was unanimous.”
“It was unanimous that a second recess benefits children, and it was talked about ad nauseum and different studies and why it was important,” she said. “It was unanimous. We voted to make the recommendation that it go back permanently. The then-assistant superintendent oversaw that committee, and ultimately, the recommendation of the committee was never brought back.”
Committee member Brian Ota said “the whole reason why the previous administration refused to give us back two recesses was (because) they said time on learning from the State required every minute to be spent this way.” He then asked, “Does this at all violate (that)?”
Superintendent John Robidoux said, in short, no. He said the State mandated 900 hours of learning time, and that this policy would still allow for that.
“Projected with a.m. recess at 15 minutes and p.m. recess at 20 minutes, which will be equal to 35 minutes… that would get us back to 910 hours,” he said. Robidoux added that two 20-minute recesses, totaling 40 minutes, would put Marblehead schools below the 900 hour threshold, though, at about 892.
Committee member Al Williams asked why this policy was only for grades K-6, therefore excluding grades 7-12.
“I would never be in disagreement giving children unstructured time because I think it ultimately does make everything better, particularly when they get older and (they’re) not seeing (their) friends in class, and (they’re) only seeing them when (they) go out to recess because the fifth grade goes together,” Taylor said. “I wouldn’t be against it for the older grades, but I think it’s just not something that they ever had.”
Committee member Sarah Fox wanted to ensure that the additional half days added to the 2025-26 school calendar had been taken into account because if they weren’t she would consider amending the calendar to accommodate this policy.
Since the Committee wanted to gather more information and data that could assist their decision-making offline, this conversation will continue at the policy’s second reading.
