Jim Rosica
Sen. Anitere Flores, Rep. Rene “Coach P” Plasencia, and a throng of “recess moms” spoke with reporters Thursday in support of legislation that would mandate school recess.
The Senate Education Committee this week voted unanimously to approve this year’s bill (SB 78). Its House companion (HB 67) has not yet heard a hearing.
It requires school districts to provide at least 20 minutes of recess each day to students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
This may well be the year the bill passes the Legislature. A version was OK’d by the House last year but died in the Senate because then-Sen. John Legg refused to hear the measure in the Pre-K-12 Education Committee he chaired.
That was despite the fact former Senate President Andy Gardiner supported the bill.
“He did not believe in the policy and he did not hear the bill,” Gardiner said in an INFLUENCE magazine interview last year. “He felt, and it’s legitimate, that that’s a local issue and we should allow local school districts to make that decision.
“Some said I should have forced him to hear that (bill),” Gardiner said. “I talked to him about but ultimately it was his decision. He’s the chair. That was just my style.”
A Periscope video of Thursday’s news conference in the Capitol’s 4th floor rotunda is below.
School recess press conf. https://t.co/QKyidISZq6
— Jim Rosica (@JimRosicaFL) February 23, 2017
