CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – After two years of pushing for change, a group of Clarksville-Montgomery County School System moms have seen their efforts produce results: Elementary school students will now have 40 minutes of unstructured, screen-free recess daily.

On Tuesday, Gov. Bill Lee met with five of the “Say Yes to Recess” moms as he signed the legislation requiring more recess time.

“It’s inspiring, but more than anything, I’m so happy that my kids have witnessed this,” said Morgan Garner, a CMCSS mother and Say Yes to Recess member. “It’s more than the minutes to me. It’s the principle that everyone involved recognized this as such a necessary change and rallied behind this idea of more recess.”

Start of ‘Say Yes to Recess’

In 2023, Garner began to notice issues in her 3rd grade daughter’s behavior: high stress and uncontainable energy that seemed to worsen on rainy days.

A little digging revealed that Garner’s daughter was only getting about 15 minutes of recess a day, which included walking the students to and from the playground, getting coats in classrooms and putting lunchboxes away after lunch. And on rainy days? They would sit in the classroom and play a game or have computer time.

As Garner dug further into the current state law and research, she met Rachel Bush, who was noticing the same problems with her children, and together they created a Facebook group and petition to urge the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System to put more of a priority on recess.

CMCSS expands recess time

In 2024, the moms began to see the fruits of their labor as their Facebook group and petition exploded with response from like-minded parents.

That year, with the help of fellow CMCSS mom, Kathryn Truman, they launched Say Yes to Recess Tennessee: a Facebook group not just for CMCSS, but to garner support from parents across the state.

In July 2024, CMCSS collaborated with the recess moms and authorized a 30-minute increase to elementary recess time per day. This new change went into effect for the 2024-25 school year.

While Garner, Bush and Truman were happy to see this new development, they weren’t entirely satisfied, and their work was far from over.

Recess bill blazes through legislation

The change that Say Yes to Recess wanted to see finally came this year. After months of working with legislators, a bill was proposed that would require local education agencies to increase recess time from 130 minutes per full school week to 40 minutes per school day.

In April, the bill blazed through both the House of Representatives and Senate in near unanimous votes, and on May 27, Lee signed the bill into law.

With this current legislation enacted, the Say Yes group has now turned their attention to middle school. Earlier this year, the group turned into a nonprofit and, according to Garner, 12 states have reached out to discuss starting a movement of their own.

“We have established chapters in six other states across the country,” Truman said. “This legislation represents a shift in the overall approach to what we as parents prioritize for our children. A good education is a balanced one and takes into account what the mind and body need as a whole.”

“Something that started in little old Montgomery County has sparked into a nationwide movement,” Garner said. “And we are so excited to be part of it.”

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