No Recess?!

A local middle school has eliminated recess, and I am completely horrified. I wrote a letter to the editor to share my thoughts.

It is irresponsible that Amesbury Middle School has eliminated recess. I fear the next intervention to eliminate problematic peer interactions will be to have children eat in their classrooms.  Why are they eliminating a tool that can positively impact a child’s physical, cognitive and social development?  Social interactions are particularly important during middle school years when peer relationships become increasingly influential and children this age are already struggling socially due to the long-term impacts of the pandemic, which stunted their social growth. At middle school age students experience significant changes that can lead to increased stress and anxiety, which is already causing massive strain to the schools due to lack of resources. I also wonder about the children that require more movement throughout the day. Will they be punished harsher for increased hyperactivity in the classroom? How will the school meet the needs of these children? The narrative for hyperactive children has always been that hyperactivity is bad, but for many kids it is an involuntary reflex just like coughing or blinking; their bodies and brains do not work together unless there are substantial physical outlets. Eliminating recess will increase stress and problems in the classroom, continue to have poor impact on their social interactions and will further harm a group of children that have already suffered so much. There is absolutely no need to remove this valuable time from a student’s life and I implore those making this decision to reconsider eliminating this from their day.