New Recess Law Challenged

Written by Pennington PTO | Feb 26, 2026

A new law passed in May 2025 that grew PES recess from 15 min to 40 min a day.

This law was advocated for by a grassroots group of moms in Clarksville, TN who formed Say Yes To Recess, a campaign advocating for protected, daily recess time for all school-aged children.

A bill has been filed to change the recess law that just passed thanks to Say Yes To Recess — and these proposed changes would reduce physical activity for our kids.

Here’s what the proposal would allow:

Recess could be taken away as punishment

P.E. could count as daily physical activity — meaning students do not have to get both P.E. and recess on the same day. If this counts, recess could potentially go from 200 minutes to 120 minutes weekly and kids NOT have daily recess

“Brain breaks” could count as physical activity

Physical Activity can now be STRUCTURED and no longer has to be UNSTRUCTURED

Students with physical activity written into their IEP's may lose recess

The Bill has been put on notice next week in the House Education Administration Subcommittee (3/3/26) so it is important to contact your representatives now.

Say Yes To Recess has made it so easy to contact with prewritten letters, just remember to sign your name! Make your letter even better by mentioning the impact this change on your student.

Click here to visit Say Yes To Recess' Tennessee page and select the first button on left "Email the Committee. This will draft up an email for you—just don’t forget to sign it.
Then email our legislators and ask them to vote NO to HB 2027 / SB 2189.
- Senator Heidi Campbell (sen.heidi.campbell@capitol.tn.gov) for families in Pennington zone north of Windemere Circle on McGavock Pike. She attended Walk to School Day at Pennington in 2024 if you'd like to mention that in your letter.
- Senator Mark Pody (sen.mark.pody@capitol.tn.gov) for families in Pennington zone South of Windemere Circle on McGavock Pike.
- House Representative Afyn Behn (rep.aftyn.behn@capitol.tn.gov) For those North of Lebanon Rd.
- If you are out of zone verify your representatives here.
You can also email the Department of Education from this page.
Sign their Petition

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