Students at Burrell’s Huston Middle School have co-authored proposed state legislation that would make recess a protected right for young students like them.
What started as a persuasive writing exercise turned into the students crafting the would-be legislation with state Rep. Bob Brooks, R-Murrysville. Brooks is looking for co-sponsors before taking it to the House Education Committee, according to one of his aides.
The writing exercise, assigned last school year, asked students to address a topic they felt passionately that could impact at least 2,000 people, said Amanda Pagnotta, a sixth-grade English language arts teacher at Burrell.
“There were a handful of students that had an issue with not having recess when they first started middle school so they wanted to do something about it,” she said.
One of the students, Jack Lattanzio, 12, a Burrell middle school student who previously attended Mary Queen of Apostles in New Kensington, said he is a big fan of recess but doesn’t have it now.
“Recess gives me a break and when I’m done, I’m ready to learn,” Lattanzio said.
Lattanzio said he and his classmates learned not all students through high school get recess or other free time such as study hall for higher grades. They learned that Pennsylvania is one of 11 states with no legislation to protect free-play recess, and independent study time or time for activities or clubs in higher grades is sometimes co-opted by other school demands.
Students want to be able to choose whether to give up their recess for other school demands, according to the draft legislation penned by the students.
The students wrote a letter to Brooks, and he visited them on the final day of last school year. Ironically, the day was designated as a fun, celebratory play day, but the students chose to assemble and present their case to Brooks, who listened to them for more than an hour, Pagnotta said.
“They were able to answer Rep. Brooks’ questions and were able to stand their ground,” she said.
The students call their campaign for statewide recesses “Mind the GAP (Growth of our mental, Academic and Physical well-being).” A website they developed said that long days of education without any gaps can cause burnout and stress. Citing research, the website said physical activity, along with a mental break from the rigor of classes, can help students perform better mentally and academically.
The students updated previous legislation that never made it to the state House floor several years ago.
“They gave up their lunch periods, stayed after school and came in on select Saturdays because they wanted to see this legislation happen,” Pagnotta said.
The draft of the bill calls for school boards to provide at least 30 minutes of “supervised, safe and unstructured free-play recess each day and at least 30 minutes of lunch for each student in kindergarten through grade 12.”
Additionally, the legislation seeks to not replace free-play recess or lunchtime for elementary school students with additional coursework or instruction. Secondary grade students will not have to replace free-play recess with additional coursework or instruction unless students request it. Finally, recess and lunchtime shall not be withheld for punishment or as a make-up period for missed work, extra credit or testing.
Pagnotta said she was “super excited” with the amount of work and grit the students put into the legislation.
“It’s rewarding to see something like this come to life,” she said.
Mary Cirucci, a constituent outreach specialist for Brooks, said she has never seen students write a bill before. “It’s great to see kids advocate for something they believe in. Trying to get people involved in the process of writing a bill and caring about laws is a good thing,” she said.
To visit the Google website for the Mind the GAP campaign, visit the Mind the Gap website.
Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Mary at 724-226-4691, mthomas@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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September 28, 2021 at 04:01PM
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Burrell middle school students help draft legislation calling for mandatory recess statewide - TribLIVE
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