Florida Senate - 2016                                    SB 1002
       
       
        
       By Senator Hays
       
       
       
       
       
       11-01468-16                                           20161002__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to public school recess; amending s.
    3         1003.455, F.S.; requiring each district school board
    4         to provide students in certain grades with a specified
    5         amount of consecutive minutes of free-play recess per
    6         day; providing that free-play recess may not be
    7         withheld for specified reasons; providing an effective
    8         date.
    9          
   10  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   11  
   12         Section 1. Subsection (3) of section 1003.455, Florida
   13  Statutes, is amended, and subsection (6) is added to that
   14  section, to read:
   15         1003.455 Physical education; assessment.—
   16         (3) Each district school board shall provide 150 minutes of
   17  physical education each week for students in kindergarten
   18  through grade 5 and for students in grade 6 who are enrolled in
   19  a school that contains one or more elementary grades so that on
   20  any day during which physical education instruction is conducted
   21  there are at least 30 consecutive minutes of physical education
   22  instruction per day. Beginning with the 2009-2010 school year,
   23  the equivalent of one class period per day of physical education
   24  for one semester of each year is required for students enrolled
   25  in grades 6 through 8. Students enrolled in such instruction
   26  shall be reported through the periodic student membership
   27  surveys, and records of such enrollment shall be audited
   28  pursuant to s. 1010.305. Such instruction may be provided by any
   29  instructional personnel as defined in s. 1012.01(2), regardless
   30  of certification, who are designated by the school principal.
   31         (6) In addition to the requirements in subsection (3), each
   32  district school board shall provide 100 minutes of supervised,
   33  safe, and unstructured free-play recess each week for students
   34  in kindergarten through grade 5 and for students in grade 6 who
   35  are enrolled in a school that contains one or more elementary
   36  grades so that there are at least 20 consecutive minutes of
   37  free-play recess per day. Free-play recess may not be withheld
   38  for academic or punitive reasons.
   39         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.