CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Elementary students across Tennessee are getting more time to play outside this school year thanks to a new state law that increases daily recess to 40 minutes.
The change comes after years of advocacy from a group of Clarksville moms who pushed for more outdoor time for students.
In Clarksville-Montgomery County School System, recess time has gradually increased from just 15-20 minutes to 30 minutes last year, and now to the state-mandated 40 minutes daily.
Jean Luna-Vedder, Director of Schools for Clarksville Montgomery-County School System, believes the additional time outside will benefit students in multiple ways.
"We would all hope that extra time outside would wear off some of the extra energy, get them the fresh air that all of the young bodies need and able to focus more in the classroom," Luna-Vedder said.
The school district encourages students to remain physically active outside of school hours as well, similar to how they promote reading and practicing math at home.
Kathryn Truman, a mom with the advocacy group Say Yes to Recess, explained that their efforts expanded beyond their local community.
"It became not only about our kids, but about all the kids in Tennessee and when we dug into the law and realized they only got 15 minutes by law daily we knew that was not nearly enough. The health and education benefits are just so much we knew that we wanted to be a voice for them and a voice for the teachers as well," Truman said.
Rachel Bush, another mom with Say Yes to Recess, expressed excitement about the statewide impact of their advocacy.
"Driving by an elementary school outside of Clarksville and being like oh that affects them. So just hearing them and how excited they are going back to school and students and parents literally jumping up and down because they have a longer recess now is definitely exciting to hear," Bush said.
The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System began the school year Wednesday with a half day, with the first full day scheduled for Monday.
Want to see how these Tennessee moms turned their local advocacy into statewide change? Watch the full video to hear directly from the parents who made it happen and learn how the extra recess time is already making a difference for students. Have information about education policy in your area? Email me at Eric.Pointer@NewsChannel5.com.
This story was reported by Eric Pointer and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Eric Pointer and our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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