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The Daily Signal
Recess
Consultant Hired in Minnesota Schools, Kids Get Coached Through Play
Time
Leah Jessen
October 06, 2015
What happens when an adult steps onto the recess playground with new
rules and a game list in hand that reads “Animal Tag,” “Four Square
Volleyball,” and “Basketball Bowling?”
Two elementary schools in the Minneapolis area, in the town of Edina,
have gone from the usual “on duty” recess supervisor to hiring a recess
consultant. As part of a new strategy, kids are now coached through
play at recess.
Nonprofit Playworks has partnered with the Edina schools this fall for
a test run of a program designed to reduce injuries and bullying on the
playground.
“It is designed to give students a chance to have an inclusive
experience during recess and not an exclusive one and to use adults to
help students work through conflict resolution issues,” Edina School
District spokesperson Susan Brott told KSTP TV5.
Over 900 schools in 23 cities have implemented a Playworks program.
In Minnesota, Playworks started to train “recess coaches” five years
ago and currently has them in 10 Minnesota school districts.
“[The kids] might not have the skills, they might not have the ability,
they might not feel welcome,” Playworks Minnesota Program Manager Todd
Wallace told CBS Minnesota. “So we try to make sure every kid feels
like they belong out at recess by providing them with those choices to
get involved.”
Chris Holden, principal at Normandale Elementary in Edina, noted to the
Minneapolis Star Tribune that fewer students have made trips to the
principal’s and nurse’s offices after recess this school year.
“Our experience is that diminishing opportunities for unsupervised play
in our society have left kids with a very thin understanding of how to
manage their own play and that it is important to have grown-ups
introduce some basic rules to make play work,” the Playworks website
states.
The children at recess may have a different opinion.
Fourth-grade Liam has been part of the pilot program in Edina at
Concord Elementary.
“He feels like that’s not playing anymore,” his mother Caroline Correia
told the Star Tribune.
The kids are given the option to play in organized games with the
recess coach or to create their own inclusive game on the playground.
The recess coaches also try to get kids to settle down at the end of
recess, for a “smooth transition” back into the classroom.
“What it’s leaving these kids without is an opportunity to have time to
grow into a problem solver, to deal with conflict, and to really have
an opportunity to go out, bust out of those doors and be free,” Edina
parent Lee Blum told KARE11. “My son should have time to just go out
and play, climb a tree if he wants to, play soccer, play hockey.
At Concord Elementary, 177 parents signed a petition in opposition to
the new recess program.
“Has there ever been a better illustration of bloated school
bureaucracy?” Lindsey Burke, a fellow in education at The Heritage
Foundation, asked The Daily Signal. “Public schools lament what they
claim is a lack of financial resources, yet are directing taxpayer
dollars to ‘recess consultants.’”
The two elementary schools in Edina spent $30,000 over the summer to
have staff trained in new techniques to be used at recess. Schools
hiring Playworks use school district tax dollars or grant money to fund
the program.
“What ails American education isn’t about money; it’s about who gets to
control dollars,” Burke continued. “Until parents can direct dollars to
options that work well for their children—until they can vote with
their feet—the public education system will continue to receive dollars
and students no matter how poorly it performs, or how inefficiently it
spends.”
The school board in Edina, along with parent input, will evaluate the
program at the end of the year.
Read this article and others with links at The Daily Signal
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