In recent weeks, the school committee has begun discussing a draft recess policy brought forward by Alison Taylor, three years after she ran for office on this issue. The draft policy mandates two daily recess periods for elementary students—35 minutes total. The problem? Educators weren’t meaningfully included in the policy’s development.
At a policy subcommittee meeting on May 8th, Assistant Superintendent Julia Ferreira explained the challenges of fitting more recess into an already tightly scheduled school day while still meeting state-mandated “time on learning” requirements. She was largely ignored. Meanwhile, Taylor has repeatedly questioned the concerns about meeting time on learning requirements, which the superintendent must certify to the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). School committee members should not substitute their personal preferences and opinions for the professional judgment of our educators.
Superintendent Robidoux has offered to explore adding a second recess with his principals. That’s the right approach: collaborative, not top-down.
School Committee members should set policy direction—not micromanage school operations. More recess is a good goal, but it needs to be done the right way: with educators at the table and the public in the loop.
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