New Haven Independent

Campaign for Recess Mounts

by Allan Appel | February 11, 2008 9:24 AM | Permalink

nhi-tocfeb%20001.JPG Only one or two New Haven Public Schools have old fashioned 20-minute recess. Nilda Aponte is set on changing that.

Aponte is not acting alone but in concert with Teach Our Children (TOC), a grassroots training and advocacy group for low and middle-income public-school parents . At a Saturday membership-building event for TOC, Aponte announced that the reinstitution of full-fledged recess in as many elementary and middle schools as possible is one of the key goals for TOC in 2008.

A mother of four kids (three at Celentano and one at Betsy Ross) and an early childhood educator herself, Aponte said she knows that learning social skills comes with free play time. Recess provides that, along with the letting off steam that is often, she said, the prelude to good concentration afterwards in class.

“The Davis Street School,” she said, “is one of the only ones in the NHPS that has full recess, and the kids there are doing fine on the CMTs. It’s not an either-or situation.”

Aponte reviewed for the two dozen current and prospective TOC members how the organization has advanced its goal thus far within the Board of Education (BOE). She reviewed meetings with the BOE’s wellness committee in the spring, presentation of research and site visits to Davis last June, culminating in a personal appeal to the BOE in September.

The main result, Aponte said, was a subsequent letter from chools Superintendent Reggie Mayo in mid-September to principals to provide recess if possible. “But the bottom line,” said Aponte, “was that the memo was watered down. The superintendent suggested an expansion of Take Ten, which is this rigid, structured ten minutes of exercise when the kids stand beside their desks. That’s not what we had in mind at all.”

Next steps? Aponte said that TOC is going to meet with Dr. Marcy Guddemi, the new head of the distinguished Gessell Institute, a child development think tank in New Haven. Guddemi is an apostle of the importance of recess and is indeed head of an international organization to give children what is termed their right to play.

And after that? Aponte was not sure. “We’re going to mount a campaign to have recess in the schools. We, of course, want to work with the schools. That’s what we have been doing. But it’s letters and memos back and forth only so far.”

nhi-tocfeb%20003.JPG The NHPS’ parent involvement coordinator, Patti Avallone (pictured with Aponte), said, “It’s clear to me Dr. Mayo and the whole board agree on the importance of recess. You know he feels that NCLB [No Child Left Behind] is putting so much pressure on. It’s a question of time, and of costs and economics as well.”

What was TOC thinking of doing after the meeting with Guddemi? “We’re thinking about going to the board in numbers,” she said. “Or maybe we’ll have a rally at City Hall.”

Teach Our Children’s next meeting is at the main branch library’s community room on Feb. 23 at 2 p.m.. Contact the group at 500-6429 or this email address.

For previous installments in the Independent’s series on parental involvement in local schools, click on:

Dad Never Misses A Game

Dad Goes To The Top, Gets Results

Parents, M&Ms Join In Math Lesson

Xena Tunes Up. Mom, Too.

Brandon Aims For The Blue Shirt

Mr. Via Confers, Brings Ice

Night-Shift Waitress Hangs Up Apron

Xena Aces Bingo

Mom Gets A Politics Pep Talk

Dad Meets The Teachers. All Of ‘Em

Ms. Lopez Moves Brandon’s Seat

Night-Shift Waitress Gets Xena To Class On Time