Recess used to be a staple of elementary school education, but in some cities and states, it’s becoming the exception rather than the norm. And parents are increasingly having to fight for their children’s right to go outside, exercise and partake in the time-honored tradition of play.
As covered on the Education blog, Meg Rosker, a mom in Florida, is one such parent. She is fighting to bring back recess in her child’s school district, where many classrooms are opting not to schedule recess time for kids.
Instead of recess, kindergarteners in Pinellas County, FL, have twice daily “structured activity” breaks, and teachers are left to decide whether kids in first grade and above get free time during lunch. Since many choose not to schedule recess, Rosker decided to take the eldest of her three sons out of his Pinellas County school. Instead, she’s homeschooling — and trying to get 30 minutes of recess re-instated in the schools.
An emergency medical technician can face many on-the-job health threats, but pesticides seemingly aren’t one of them. But an ongoing battle between union workers and a hospital service company indicates that workers are exposed to harmful pesticides inside ambulances — and are suffering the health repercussions.
In the debate over how to teach sex education in schools, young people’s voices often go unheard. But in Boston, a group of students from the Jamaica Plains neighborhood are making sure they get a say in the matter. In conjunction with the nonprofit Hyde Square Task Force, the students have launched a campaign to demand that a comprehensive sex education program be implemented in all the city’s high schools.
