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Dear WH Friends and Neighbors,

Did you know that our middle schools in West Hartford have no recess? No time to be outside? No breaks?  Did you know that for two-thirds of the academic year, middle school students in our town have no physical education? As an adult, are you able to work seven hours a day without giving yourself a break? Well, our schools expect our children to.

LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO CHANGE THIS.

Compare our local policy to what Finland does. Finland has one of the best public education systems in the world. In Finland, all students receive a 15-minute break every 45 minutes. Yes, even teenagers. Most Finnish schools repeat this 3-4 times per day. In West Hartford, our middle school students have no breaks, zero.

Our children deserve better.

In two weeks, I have collected over 100 signatures from WH parents and students calling to bring recess to our middle schools. Please consider adding your name to the electronic version of the petition here.

Best regards,

Jacob Werblow, Ph.D.
WH Parents for Creative, Connected & Compassionate Middle Schools