Like most kids, Marguerite Vann Elementary School third-grader Jay Lemieux loves recess. This fall, the students will get an extra 30 minutes a day to play.
Marguerite Vann Elementary School is among 24 elementary schools statewide chosen for a one-year pilot program for extended recess enacted by the state Legislature. Act 1062 of 2017 states that the recess must be “unstructured and undirected play” for students in kindergarten through the sixth grade.
Conway elementary schools receive 30 minutes of recess during the day now; the pilot program requires 60 minutes during the school day.
Principal Bobby Walker said research shows that students who get free time, with the proper equipment available, spend energy “and come back into the classroom and have that focus.”
“It’s a good fit for our school,” Walker said of the pilot program. “We have the two big playgrounds, adequate equipment there. Our demographics are kind of mixed — we’ve got a little bit of everybody there — we thought we’d be a prime location [for the pilot program].”
On a recent morning, Jay climbed on the monkey bars, the parallel bars and the rock-climbing wall at the school. He said he’s happy about the extra recess.
“I won’t have to sit in a chair as long, and I get more energy out, and I’ll have more time with my friends at recess,” Jay said. “I get to play football and soccer more — and basketball.”
Walker said the school staff was consulted before the school applied for the program.
“We took a survey before we ever did it to make sure the teachers were on board, and overwhelmingly, they were,” Walker said.
Walker said Jana Hedgecock, the school’s physical education teacher, led the move to apply for the program.
Hedgecock, who is beginning her eighth year at Marguerite Vann, said there are “quite a few different reasons” that she wanted the additional recess.
“No. 1, kids just aren’t moving as much as they used to. The recommended amount is 60 minutes a day [of exercise]; the current law is only 30 minutes a day. There are so many benefits of exercise. My big push was getting kids more active … getting their brains ready to learn,” Hedgecock said.
Hedgecock echoed Walker’s comments about exercise helping students focus, adding that unrestricted play has a social benefit.
“The research shows learning increases, [with exercise]; their brains are more active. It’s a stress relief, getting the jitters out,” she said. “Across the world, they’ve noticed with kids being on technology and not outside as much, they’re missing some of those social skills by not getting outside and playing, so we’re hoping to increase those, too.”
Hedgecock said Marguerite Vann students are in her class for 50 minutes each week. The state regulation is 40 minutes, “so we get 10 minutes extra,” she said.
“If [the students] get there early, they can play. After they’re done eating in the cafeteria, there’s also a morning recess, extra — at 7:30. There’s somebody on duty,” she said.
Through the pilot program, students will have recess at staggered times before lunch and after lunch.
Hedgecock said 69.44 percent of the elementary school’s 400 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. The ethnicity breakdown is 47 percent
Caucasian, 44 percent African-American, 7 percent Hispanic and 2 percent Asian.
“That was a big push for us with us being in Conway and having high free and reduced-price lunch and diversity,” she said.
Jay’s mother, Ashley Lemieux, is a substitute teacher at the school, so she’s kept up with the effort for the waiver. She said Jay is her third child and second son to go through the elementary school, and she sees the benefits of more playtime.
“I believe they’re going to make better grades; they’re going to behave better if they get that energy out,” she said.
“And your children who do struggle behaviorally or ones who are high-energy kids, I just think it’s a real positive for them, and it can’t be a form of discipline to take it away,” Lemieux said. “At different schools, if you need discipline, you can take away recess time. … If they get so many marks, they take away 10 minutes, … and if you only get 30 minutes, that’s not much time. With this program, you cannot use taking away recess as discipline; the kids are guaranteed the full hour a day.”
According to the law, pilot schools will be required to submit regular reports to the Arkansas Department of Education School Health Services office.
Walker said the data will be used to decide whether the program works and needs to be expanded to other elementary schools.
He said that with the extra recess, “we can’t waste time; we’ve got to really look at the schedule and make sure we’re focusing on the academics while we’re in the room. It’s going to be a mindset change for the school,” one that he believes is worth it.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.