BILL NUMBER: S6858
SPONSOR: MAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to providing for daily
recess for elementary students
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To provide daily recess for elementary students
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 adds Education Law 813-a to recognize that recess is essential
to the physical wellbeing and mental health of elementary school
students and that young students learn through play. Each school shall
ensure that every public or private school in which school days exceed
five hours in duration provides a minimum of 30 minutes of daily recess
for all students in kindergarten through fifth grade and for sixth grade
students who attend an elementary school. Recess shall be outside when-
ever possible and lunch breaks and physical education shall be in addi-
tion to recess. Each school district shall develop a plan for physical
play, but if no such plan is possible, the school shall seek a waiver
from the Department of Education. Recess shall not be routinely withheld
as a disciplinary or punitive measure.
Section 2 provides an effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Children learn through play and need physical activity and socializa-
tion. According to the Center for Disease Control, recess helps kids
focus in the classroom and improves their memory and attention while
reducing disruptive behaviors. Self-directed play with other students
builds social, cognitive and physical skills, while reducing stress in
children. During the pandemic, children suffered from not being able to
socialize with other kids in spontaneous free play. Since activities
within classrooms are usually determined by adults, it is imperative
that students have a chance to apply and expand the skills they are
learning through play. This bill provides for a thirty-minute recess in
each elementary school day and prohibits the routine withholding of
recess for disciplinary reasons other than an immediate threat to the
safety of any person.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding the date
on which it shall have become a law.

Statutes affected:
S6858A: 3602 education law, 3602(1) education law