Many Montgomery County, MD., public schools keep elementary schoolchildren indoors when the temperature hits 32 degrees or snow is on the ground. Our children need to run around and be active. The county has no official policy telling schools to provide children with ACTIVE recess time. It only "encourages" physical activity "for students, staff and community members before school, during the instructional day and after the instructional day."
Help convince the MCPS Board of Education to set a specific wellness policy requiring schools to give all county children 30 minutes of ACTIVE recess each day.
Every year, as soon as the weather turns slightly frightful outside, school administrators throughout Montgomery County implement indoor recess. This means that thousands of elementary school students throughout the county are expected to sit quietly playing in classrooms.
We understand the need to keep children indoors if it's raining outside. But to keep children indoors for day after day because the weather is 31 degrees or because there is snow on the ground does not help our children. They come home bouncing off the walls, climbing on furniture and difficult to deal with -- all because they were forced to sit all day.
Our children need some active time every day. They need to run and play and get some energy out. They learn better and behave better after they run around. Plus, active time is a key to fighting the childhood obesity epidemic in our nation.
We, the undersigned, ask that you act now to learn from some of our Northern neighbors. If children in more Northern states can be outside most of the winter, our children can be as well. Put common sense in play and tell ALL schools in the county that they MUST guarantee that our children receive 30 minutes of ACTIVE recess time every school day.
Thank you for considering this request.
