Principal cancels recess for 5 days

Some Vae View Elementary students weren't happy last week. The weather is warmer and spring fever is setting — but until this Tuesday, recess is out.

Principal Eric Holmes at the Davis District school in Layton said it was time for a manners and behavior overhaul at the school. Though he admits Vae View probably didn't have any more problems with bullying and fighting than other schools, he said it was enough of a problem that it needed to be addressed in a serious way.

Some days he was seeing a dozen kids in his office for arguments, hitting and fighting, and Holmes said he needed something that would make them stop, look and learn.

"I wanted to get the kids' attention, and the best way for that is to take away something they expect to have — something out of the ordinary," Holmes said.

For five days, all students at the school aren't allowed recess and instead, during the time when they would be on the playground, they are working on social skills, community building, peace building and in anti-bullying activities.

Some teachers have held classroom discussions about how to make recess better. Many have gone outside with classes and done a supervised activity or game that helps with team building and gives kids some ideas of other things that they can do at recess.

Holmes said typically there are around 200 to 300 kids at recess with only three or four aides on duty. They can't control every issue that comes up.

"I spend a lot of my time taking care of things that happen at recess. We lose valuable time, and it's time for kids to learn," he said. "It's been tough, but it helps reinforce what we are trying to do."

Also, Holmes enlisted the lunch manager to visit with classrooms about lunchroom manners — how to pick up your food and how to sit down, put trays away and keep the area clean.

And teachers have gone over with kids how to line up and get from point A to point B in a reasonable manner.

"It's got kids thinking twice and has parents thinking of ways to maybe help their kids behave better," Holmes said. "I just don't want to go back to the status quo."

Holmes admits it was not the most popular decision among both students and parents. Kids ignore him in the hall and some parents told the Deseret Morning News it could be a little extreme.

But others say if that is what needed to be done, then so be it.

"I think it's great, why not?" said Sally Hadley who has a kindergartner and second-grader at the school. "They need to learn that unacceptable behavior is not going to be tolerated, and they are using that time to work on social skills.

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E-mail: terickson@desnews.com