Misstropolis

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Join the Movement: Help Rescue Recess

by Robin Hauck

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Movement is the word that seems best suited to describe Jill Vialet, Founder and Executive Director of Sports4Kids, the organization committed to making sure recess is a vital part of every child’s day, everyday, in the U.S.

She moves fast, she moves strategically, and she moves into spaces desperately in need of attention. After graduating from Harvard in 1986, Vialet went to work for Camp Fire USA in Alaska, teaching Eskimo children how to swim. This was after completing her Harvard senior thesis on the divestiture movement from South Africa and going to that country to work with women in need.

From Camp Fire in Alaska, Vialet went on to create the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA), in Oakland, CA, the only one of its kind in the country. It’s still going strong today, and it’s the kind of place one really wishes would crop up in every city.

While running MOCHA, Vialet met constantly with educators to invite their schools to the museum. One of these meetings made such a impression on her that it became the inspiration for her next move for social change - Sports4Kids. She arrived for a meeting with a principal at an inner city school and found four boys sitting in small chairs in front of the principal’s big desk. In trouble for fighting, they were spending time there instead of outside for recess. The principal complained at length, Vialet remembers, about why recess was the bane of her existence. Breaking up fights and sending kids to the nurse was all the faculty had to look forward to.

The complaint that “recess is hell,“ Vialet had heard before. But for some reason, hearing it this time sent her back to her own childhood. It hit her that the culture of play she had taken for granted as a child no longer existed. There weren’t endless games of Capture the Flag and Foxes and Hounds to join before dinner, or hours of make-believe play with made-up rules and a part for everyone. Even months after the meeting she couldn’t shake the impact of that realization, so she decided to do something about it.

Vialet started traveling the country, talking with school principals in low-income, high-crime areas. She found that with the pressures of instructional minutes, standardized testing, larger class sizes and diminishing annual budgets, alarming numbers of schools were cutting back on recess time or eliminating it altogether. As a result, violence, suspensions, anti-social behavior and failing grades were increasing. Most principals said, ‘whatever it takes, we want to bring recess back.‘

Today, Vialet is the country’s leading advocate for rescuing recess in public schools. She is at the forefront of a national push to make recess a legislative priority, especially in the low-income communities where kids are most vulnerable. As evidenced in a “Recess Rules” groundbreaking report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which has invested seriously in Sports4Kids, “undervalued play time may be America’s best investment for healthy kids and healthy schools.“

Consistent, structured play at recess not only improves children’s physical health, but also builds confidence, which can lead to leadership abilities and improved respect for self and others. In addition, good recess coaches teach strategies for leadership, problem solving, respect and conflict resolutions. 

Vialet started Sprts4Kids in the California Bay Area and now also serves schools in Baltimore, Silicon Valley, Washington, DC and Boston. Amazingly, the program now serves 50,000 kids in 130 schools! Like Friends of the Children, Sports4Kids recognizes the importance of hiring full-time staff and in doing so makes a difference throughout the entire day. Site Coordinators, who go through a rigorous training program, use special youth appropriate strategies to make playtime safe, inclusive and fun. Their efforts have a ripple effect, which principals and teachers say help improve learning, behavior, confidence and community relations.

Vialet recently visited Boston to meet with influential supporters and learn about how to make the program grow in Boston. They are currently in their second year in Boston, working in 13 schools - amazing growth given that the schools pay almost half of the $55,000 program costs. (Sports4Kids covers about half as well.)

She is working to start a movement. And she wants it to be big. As big as recycling, smoking cessation and using seatbelts.

To learn more about Jill Vialet, visit the Ashoka site on global changemakers. Or listen to her amazing Innovatorz podcasts.

To find out more about the movement to rescue recess, check out the Cartoon Network’s strategic initiative.

Sports4Kids Boston
209 Green Street
Boston, MA 02130
(617) 522-3600