Luc Robbins, a third-grade student at Leschi Elementary School, often returns home with a lunch box of largely uneaten food.
“When I come home every day, my mom asks me, ‘Why haven’t you finished your lunch?’” Luc said. “And I say, ‘because my lunch time is so short.’”
Robbins isn’t the only youngster who doesn’t have enough time to finish eating. Nadjia Gier, another third-grader at Leschi, concurs: “I usually never get to eat my food. I am afraid I won’t grow up to be healthy and won’t be able to focus on my work.”
But this problem isn’t exclusive to their school. In fact, parents at more than 50 Seattle Public Schools have recently complained that their kids don’t get enough time for lunch or recess.
It gets worse every year, parents have said. Within the last few months, parents took action to assemble sizable advocacy groups around this issue, including Facebook groups and giving public testimony at school board meetings.
“Having been in the schools for four years, I noticed right away how limited time was for recess and lunch,” said Jana Robbins, Luc’s mom. Robbins has been one of the cause’s many advocates.
According to Seattle Public Schools policy, students must be allowed 20 minutes of eating time at lunch. But some students have seen their recess times reduced to 10 minutes and their second recess time get slashed altogether. Others must regularly choose between eating lunch and having shorter recess or having recess but not being able to finish lunch.
Children who eat hot lunch often have as little as six minutes of actual, seated eating time to finish their meal, parents have reported. Some parents have also said that their children were coming home hungry, with low blood sugar.
Time cuts also depend on which schools students happen to attend. “This is a huge equity issue, as well,” Robbins said.
Low-income schools, where many kids rely on free and reduce-price lunches, are most likely to receive less lunch and recess time compared with other schools. Principals have reportedly said that long recess times provide more opportunity for discipline problems.
In some schools, third- through fifth-graders receive 15 to 20 minutes of recess time per day; younger students might go out twice but for shorter periods of time. Comparatively, students in other schools might receive 45 minutes of recess each day, Robbins reported.
Value recess, academics
Earlier this year, Robbins and her family provided a statement on Change.org to see how many other people felt the way they did about lunch and recess cuts. Within just a few weeks, there were 1,600 signers, she said.
“This is a huge frustration,” she said. “We want the district to value recess just as much as it values academics.”
According to research, recess helps students succeed. It makes it easier for them to sit still and study in class, as well as provide opportunities to develop social skills.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that 42 percent of the nation’s elementary-age students get most of their total daily exercise at recess. This is more than the exercise they typically get in gym class or after-school programs. Given that the nation has a childhood-obesity problem, recess is vital to keep kids moving, researchers have said.
“Lunch and recess are being reduced at academics’ expense,” Robbins stated.
Seattle Public Schools has been responsive to parents’ complaints. At November’s board meeting, school officials talked about a special task force that will look into the issue and report back to the board within 18 months of the meeting.
National problem
But why are all the schools cutting back?
There are a variety of reasons, Robbins said, but explanations are unclear. Factors might include the state Legislature’s modified teacher instructional hour requirements, bus schedules, lack of staffing, budgetary cuts and, in some schools, students being difficult for some staff to discipline, as mentioned earlier.
However, this trend is not only happening in this district, according to observations; others see it appearing in other districts, both statewide and nationwide.
Stacy Howard, media relations specialist at Seattle Public Schools, said, “[A] task force was already created when some parents brought these concerns forward…. We are looking into all our schools to ensure policies are being followed and will send updates as soon as we have them.”
Until then, parents will continue putting pressure on the district to address this issue.
“I think we should have more recess because it’s so short and I want to run around and have fun every day,” said first-grader Ian Robbins, Luc’s younger brother. “I also want more lunch because kids have to stand in line all the time. When I open my lunchbox, they say, ‘Clean up.’”
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