Amendment #1343 to H4400

To Mandate Recess for Elementary School Children

Representatives Decker of Cambridge, Farley-Bouvier of Pittsfield, Higgins of Leominster, Lewis of Framingham, Rogers of Cambridge, Khan of Newton, Keefe of Worcester, Garballey of Arlington, O'Connell of Taunton and Lawn of Watertown move to amend the bill by adding the following section:

“SECTION XX.

Section 1G of Chapter 69 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following subsection:-

(1) All children in grades kindergarten through five attending public schools shall receive one hundred minutes of supervised, safe, and unstructured free-play recess each week so that there are at least twenty consecutive minutes of free-play recess per day. As used herein, the term "free play" means an unstructured environment, but which is supervised by appropriate school personnel or staff. Regulations promulgated by the department may not exclude recess from structured learning time requirements for elementary school children and may not increase the total number of hours required in the school year to meet the provisions of this subsection”.”

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #1343 to H4400

To Mandate Recess for Elementary School Children