Enhanced Recess?

The latest assault on recess (and common sense) comes from the East Providence School District in Rhode Island. Tony Carcieri, spokesman for the district, gave a radio interview with Dan Yorke of WPRO in Providence. Seeking to allay fears that the district was doing away with recess, Mr. Carcieri may have simply added fuel to the fire when he explained that the district, "got rid of recess as we knew it and replaced it with something better." Carcieri asserted much of the criticism of the new policy was politically motivated. He also said of its critics, "They would like it to be like the old days." http://www.630wpro.com/Article.asp?id=1917874&spid=18040

A story on the Providence Journal's website sums up many parents' feelings of the new policy: "Developmentally inappropriate. Inhumane. Ridiculous. Too structured. Another popular opinion shared was recess, as most remember it, is gone and shame on the school officials for eliminating it."

Nothing doing, says Mario Cirillo, the superintendent, who refers to the new and improved recess as "enhanced recess." According to the district, enhanced means: 1) five extra minutes (whoop tee doo); 2) recess held at the teacher's discretion (whenever that is); 3) recess will be supervised by teachers instead of aids (another big whoop); 4) students will receive "personalized experiences" with the classroom teachers during recess (huh?). http://www.epschoolsri.com/news/recess.php

The district's claim that it is merely "enhancing" recess sounds suspiciously like a euphemism masking the very opposite: the elimination of recess. Call me a fear monger, but I can't help it when the district's own spokesman goes on the radio and announces that the district, "got rid of recess as we knew it and replaced it with something better." And it doesn't help either that the district's website distinguishes between "unstructured free time play" and recess. Why the distinction? The site assures parents children will recieve fifteen minutes of recess per day, but does not give any assurance of when or how much "unstructured free time play" children will receive. All it says is, "Children will have their unstructured free time play." That is because recess is no longer recess in East Providence. As the district has explained, it got rid of recess as we know it and replaced it with "enhanced recess." Enhanced recess is not the same as "unstructured free time play." Enhanced recess is totally up to the teacher's discretion. It may come at any time of the day, morning or afternoon, or it may not come at all on any given day. It may be inside the classroom or outside. It may consist of the teacher taking children outside for a stretch break or a game of duck duck goose. As for the old recess as we knew it, what the district now calls "unstructured free time play," the district won't say when or how much children will get.

If you read the news, you probably hear alot about the crisis in public education, about our dysfunctional public school system. You probably also hear alot about the supposed causes of the failure: inadequate funding, poverty, teacher performance, level of parental involvement, etc . . . . These issues are secondary. This story gives us a glimpse of the real cause of the crisis in public schools: the boneheaded thinking of those who run the schools.