ATLANTA — Georgia legislators are considering a bill that would require recess at all K-5 public schools.
“Everybody needs time to take a break,” State Rep. Demetrius Douglas, the sponsor of House Bill 1283, said.
Also known as the "recess bill," HB1283 would require all public schools in the state to offer 30 minutes of daily unstructured activity time, preferably outdoors, for K-5 students.
Many parents were surprised to learn recess was not already mandatory.
Shanay Cohen-Sadan and her husband, Ofer Sadan, said they were surprised when their then 12-year-old, who attends school in Cobb County, said they didn't get any break at all.
"The first response was disbelief," she said. "We said, what do you mean? What is the reason?"
The Sadans said they spent months trying to get answers from the district with little luck.
“We kept going higher and higher in the hierarchy to find who was actually in charge, and we got zero response," Ofer Sadan said. "I can't imagine myself in that age sitting for seven or eight hours straight just learning. It simply doesn't make sense.”
Rep. Douglas agrees. He says that’s why he introduced the recess bill, which does include exceptions like inclement weather, time conflicts, emergencies, and acts of God.
“It's just one page," Douglas said of the bill. "Thirty minutes of recess, unstructured, and it can't be taken away for punishment. That's all the bill does."
So Douglas and many others were surprised when the bill passed in 2019, only to be vetoed by Gov. Brian Kemp.
“I was kind of speechless, I really can't imagine why would the governor veto it?" Sadan said. "You don't even need extra budget for it. You just cut down five minutes, four from each class and you have a recess.”
At the time Governor Kemp said he didn’t want to restrict districts’ local control, saying:
"Currently, local boards of education hold broad authority to establish recess policies for students in kindergarten through eighth grade," Kemp wrote in his veto statement. "This local control allows school boards to set these policies based on a thorough understanding of day-today educational operations as well as regular interaction with administrators, educators, families, and students. House Bill 83 would dramatically restrict this local control, stripping long-held authority from school boards. While I support expanded recess opportunities for Georgia’s students, I am a firm believer in local control, especially in education. This legislation would impose unreasonable burdens on educational leaders without meaningful justification. For the foregoing reasons, I VETO HOUSE BILL 83."
But Rep. Douglas has re-introduced the bill in 2022, and he has high hopes it might pass the second time around.
“I'll be glad to compromise on getting it through, let's meet in the middle," he said. "For our kids, not for us. Let's not play politics with our kids' future.”
The Sadans, who are both physicians, say now that kids are back in school it’s the perfect time to bring this conversation back to the forefront.
“Recess is really a physiologic need," Ofer Sadan said. "There's a clear correlation between unstructured recess time and BMI. I hope that our legislature and our governor will really give our kids a break.”
11Alive reached out to a dozen school districts in the area to request their policies on recess.
Nearly 24 hours after the request, only Fayette, Coweta, and Clayton counties responded, each confirming they have recess at all their K-5 schools.
11Alive also reached out to Gov. Kemp's office for comment on the bill's re-introduction, but never received a response.
Rep. Douglas says the Governor's repeated intervention in schools' affairs over the past two years could work in their favor for getting the bill passed in 2022.
"He told me 'local control' and we sat back and watched him make decisions. in education that should be local control," Douglas said. "He did it with the CRT, critical race theory...along with the mask mandate. If you're going to veto my bill for local control and you're dabbling in local control in education, then you're not telling me the right thing or you're not consistent."