Jacksonville Board of Education member and Desert Storm veteran Steve Smith, has finally helped bring recess back to Kitty Stone Elementary School.

Celebrating being elected to serve a second term, Smith said that the reason why he ran for the position in the first place, was recess and the fact that it has become non-existent at Kitty Stone Elementary.

Smith argued that kids need recess so that they can relieve stress, socialize, and fight obesity by getting physical activity in on a playground with their friends, instead of strict physical education classes.

“I learned that the physical educational professional associations agreed that kids need recess,” he said. “Taking it away never improved any school system’s test scores. I just wanted to see if we could get it back.”

Since Smith’s initiatives, Kitty Stone students are now allowed recess about four days a week, on top of the state required physical education. But Smith does not plan on stopping there, he wants to address the Wellness Committee to see if recess can be added to students’ daily schedules.

Another issue that Smith felt was important was breakfast for students. While serving his very first term on the Board of Education in Jacksonville, Smith has been able to make it so that over 500 students receive daily breakfast between Kitty Stone and Jacksonville High School.

If you and your family are moving to Jacksonville and you would like to make sure that you are enrolling your student at a school that implements daily recess and breakfast, be sure to check out Kitty Stone Elementary or Jacksonville High School, and let All My Sons Moving & Storage help to make your move easy and stress-free, so that you can focus on getting your kids enrolled at one of the many great Jacksonville schools.