I am writing this letter to address some concerns fellow parents and I have regarding Nimitz Elementary's current recess policy of a no playground use at recess.  We believe this policy is unjust and inconsistent with the Department of Education (DOE) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidance and ask that you rescind it immediately. 

The Hawaii DOE “Mitigation Strategies to Maintain Healthy Operations and Environments” guidance states that “in general, students and staff do not need to wear masks when outdoors.”  However, our children are both wearing masks and staying within their Ohana bubbles; yet they are not allowed to use the playground or have any materials (jump-ropes, balls, etc.) to play with.

If this is a matter of sanitation, (you mentioned that the playground would require sanitation 4 times a day if the playground was to reopen,) however, there is no such number or recommendation of this in either the DOE’s Safe School Reopening guidance or the state of Hawaii’s COVID-19 Health and Safety Guidance for 2021-2022.

In fact, the CDC states nearly the opposite, “that in most situations, the risk of infection from touching surfaces is low. At the most, cleaning once a day is usually enough to sufficiently remove potential viruses that may be on surfaces.”

We believe that Nimitz’s COVID-19 mitigation practices pertaining to outdoor play are too extreme. According to the American Pediatrics Academy, the playground is an important structure that promotes physical activity for sustained healthier outcomes.  They also recommend 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily.  Physical Education at Nimitz is only offered once every other week, which make recess even more essential to children’s physical development.  Surrounding schools, such as Mokulele, Pearl Harbor and Aiea Elementary all utilize their playgrounds and equipment during recess. Which begs the question, why are Nimitz’s policies more restrictive than surrounding schools? 

These restrictions create more undo stress for our children. “We’re all under stress at this time, and play is an important catalyst to relieve said stress” says educational psychologist Lauren Mcnamara, PhD, founder and director at Toronto’s Ryerson University that promotes active and inclusive recess. A wealth of research from the American Psychological Association shows that unstructured play, that’s play not organized by any real means, or directed by adults is a fundamental necessity for children to thrive physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially.

A recent $2.1 million grant was received by the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) for federal Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (PMHCA) to promote behavioral health integration into pediatric primary care, which has drastically increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The decision to close the playground was yours sir, and it’s now time to re-open them for the sake of happier, more well-rounded, and healthier children.