Letter: Recess is not to blame for failing

Wednesday, March 17, 2004 | 8:45 a.m.

The theory that phasing out recess to allow for more instructional time will help Clark County schools meet standards put forth by the No Child Left Behind Act is laughable.

We recently moved here from Utah, which ranks among the lowest in the nation in per-pupil spending and has some of the highest student-to-teacher ratios in the country. Yet few schools in that state fail to meet national standards.

Our former school had two recess periods, enough time at lunch for the children to actually eat their lunch and one early-release day a week for teacher preparation time -- and it still met those standards.

Being that Nevada schools receive much revenue from the gaming industry and class sizes are almost half what they are in Utah, one would expect Nevada schools to be far superior. Unfortunately, we found this not to be the case. We have been disappointed to see that the academic standards here are far less than our school in Utah.

It is time to take a closer look as to why educators in Clark County are unable to teach students effectively enough to meet the national standards put forth by the No Child Left Behind Act. It isn't for lack of revenue, it isn't because of large class sizes and I don't believe for one second it is because 15 minutes of instructional time every morning is being lost on recess.

HEIDI OWEN