Should recess be mandatory in Mass. elementary schools?

BOSTON — School is back in session and the one reprieve kids have from their daily mental exercise – recess – isn’t guaranteed.

But a bill before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Education proposed to mandate the time for all elementary school students in the Commonwealth.

A 32-bill agenda for the committee includes legislation dealing with learning time, technology and the school building authority.

The agenda also includes house and senate bills that would allow for the creation of ‘school empowerment zones,’ which was a proposal Charlie Baker spoke about in his State of the Commonwealth address this year.

The recess bill would mandate 100 minutes of “supervised, safe and unstructured free-play recess each week and at least 20 consecutive minutes of free-play recess per day.”

School personnel must be present to supervise, but the time must be unstructured, according to the bill.
The committee will begin its hearings Tuesday morning.

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