New law in Rhode Island makes recess mandatory

A boy plays hopscotch on the playground.
(Image credit: iStock)

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) has signed legislation that requires elementary schools to give kids at least 20 consecutive minutes of recess, defined as free play, every day.

The law, signed Monday, also allows schools to consider recess instructional time so they don't have to make the school day any longer to meet the requirements, The Associated Press reports. An earlier version of the bill wanted to ban teachers from taking away recess from kids as a form of punishment, but that was dropped in a compromise, and the law now asks teachers to make a good faith effort to not keep students from recess.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.