Recess bill faces hurdle in Senate

Joining a rising group of moms across the state of Florida, Amy Narvaez and Roberta Brandenburg are passionate about making sure their kids are given an adequate recess during the school day.

"Research says that they focus better, they retain information better, behavioral issues go down, not to mention that on the playground is where they learn social skills," Narvaez said.

"We all had that benefit as children and I think that children today still deserve that benefit," Brandenburg said.

Last year they pushed for a recess policy in Orange County schools, when that didn't work, they went to the state level.

"As far as the house is concerned, we've moved through very quickly, we were put on the agenda pretty fast and then each consecutive week we were put on the additional following agenda," Brandenburg said.

The bill which would mandate 20 consecutive minutes of recess in Florida public elementary schools has reached a road block in the Senate, since it hasn't been put on the agenda by Sen. John Legg -- we spoke with the sponsor of the bill Sen. Darren Soto for comment.

"I encourage all of your viewers to reach out to Senator Legg's office and to others to voice your support, our kids obviously need more time to be able to play and exercise and make sure to relax their minds a little bit through such a rigorous day of learning," Soto said.

Soto says it's still possible for the bill to move forward through an alternative route, meanwhile Narvaez and Brandenburg says they'll continue to push for playtime.

"We have all fought a really long road and we're not giving up now," Brandenburg said.
Fox 35 tried to reach out to Sen. Legg for comment, but we did not hear back.