About two dozen elementary school students and parents rallied in protest of the new “zoned recess” program at Village Elementary, saying that recess felt more like a prison and less like playtime. It all happened on Thursday, August 20 at the school board meeting for Coronado Unified School District.
The protest was organized by an organization called Concerned Village Parents, an informal coalition of more than 50 Coronado families, advocates and community members.
“Recess is one of the only times we can just have fun and play together, and let kids be kids,” said Charlie Wilson, a third grader at Village Elementary. “Last night I cried because I feel like this is tearing my friendships apart. I don’t think kids should have to earn the right to play with their friends.”
The new “zoned recess” kicked off at the start of the school year, and many parents say they felt blindsided — only learning of the program when their kids came home from school upset. They called upon district leadership to dismantle the policy that “confines elementary school students to designated playground zones by classroom and mandates color-coded wristbands.”
“Rounding up all of the kids and separating them by class and behavior and putting arm bands on them is not something we want them to get used to. We feel it is unnecessary control of our children,” said Ann-Marie Schmidt, a mom of elementary school students. “We don’t need zones. We need time for the kids to have more free time and unstructured play and to actually unwind.”
What is a zoned recess?
So what is “zoned recess, exactly?” And why is it needed?
Village Elementary School Principal Pete Kuhns delivered a presentation at a parent forum on Thursday, August 13 that broke down the program.
According to the presentation, data shows a major increase in behavior incidents — or student behavioral referrals — during recess. When large numbers of students are moving freely across the entire playground, it makes supervision more difficult.
“The previous system of a completely open and unstructured recess was not producing the safe and positive environment we expect,” reads the presentation.
The solution, according to Kuhns: a partnership with Playworks, a professional development group, to work with recess aids to create different zones where children can play, choosing among the activities available in their assigned zone. The kids get wristbands that assign them to a particular zone.
The goal is to reduce congestion and chaos, increase adult visibility and supervision and create more manageable spaces for students who need help navigating peer interactions.
Student and parent reaction
But many of the kids aren’t having it.
“I hate recess now,” said Dylan Grobe, a 3rd grader. “You don’t get to play with your friends and we barely get to do anything we want … Before this, I liked recess. And now when they tell us it’s recess time, I just feel disappointed.”
A fourth grader named Leslie said that he isn’t able to play his favorite sport, or even get away from a bully.
“Whenever I want to play volleyball, I never get to play because all the volleyball players are separated,” he said. “And there is a bully in the same zone as me, so I can never get away from him.”
Parent Eric Grobe said that Village leadership’s response to behavioral problems is troubling. He argued that restricting freedom or movement and social interaction for 100% of the student body is a heavy-handed response that failed to address the root causes of playground behavior.
“Its own presentation showed that 93% of students had zero or only one office referral last year,” said Grobe. “Rather than address the concentrated problem, the administration restricted every child.”
Village mom Fiorella Larrea said that the zoned recess is making it harder for kids to develop independence and social skills they need to grow into adulthood.
“Recess is not 20 or 30 minutes for us to control,” she said. “It is where our children learn to negotiate, resolve conflict, choose friends, regulate themselves, make mistakes, solve problems, and become increasingly independent. Those are not problems to manage. Those are skills we are supposed to help them develop.”
Village mom Lauren Wilson said she’s deeply uncomfortable with a system that first removes children’s “ordinary autonomy” and then makes its restoration contingent on their compliance.
“The question for me is, how did the people entrusted with our children arrive at a conclusion that this was a good idea in the first place?” she asked.
Rollout and implementation
Superintendent Karl Mueller acknowledges that the rollout of the zoned recess program was less than ideal.
“We recognize that parents should have received detailed context prior to the first day, about what and why there were changes being made,” he said. “Moving forward, we are committed to providing timely and thorough updates to families before new initiatives take effect so everyone feels prepared and informed.”
The partnership with Playworks — the professional development consultants that train staff for the zoned recess — was approved for this school year by the board on June 18, 2026.
The contract cost $23,700 for both Village Elementary and Silver Strand Elementary. It was billed in the contracts section of the consent calendar as “Recess reboot, recess implementation and consultation visit” by Playworks Education Energized.
In his August 13 presentation, Kuhns shared a new phase in the “zoned recess” whereby kids would enjoy more interaction and student choice starting the week of August 24. He said students would get to interact with peers outside of their classes, and activities would continue to expand.
Then, in an email to parents on August 19, it was revealed that Phase 3 was moving towards open recess. The communication seems to be leaving some parents confused.
“I don’t like that we are having to be detectives to try to piece together what our kids, teachers, and administrators are telling us,” said Village dad Brian Schmidt.
Zoned recess at Silver Strand Elementary
Not everyone thinks the “zoned recess” is a bad idea. In fact, it’s been working very well at Silver Strand Elementary since they implemented the program in 2021, according to Principal Jenny Moore.
“Initially, a few students and families pushed back against moving away from unstructured recess,” said Moore. “Some students were disappointed they could no longer play across grade levels, while parents preferred free, creative play over designated games.”
In response, she said Strand adjusted their schedule to allow 4th and 5th graders to mix in certain zones.
These days, she says the Playworks “zones” and structure is a consistent part of their school schedule plan, and it’s no longer questioned on a regular basis. On occasion, she says they receive student feedback about less preferred zones, or a desire to play a certain sport every day.
She said two of the main benefits include relationship building, as the supervisors know and understand the grade levels they support. This in turn helps them prevent and address conflicts and set students up for success at their developmental level, as well as tailor equipment and games to their needs.
She also says students are exposed to new games and different people.
“Students who wouldn’t otherwise play together often do because of a shared interest in a game they might not otherwise play,” said Moore. “There are also options for just hanging out and not necessarily playing a structured game, so we are not ‘forcing’ kids to play.”
Other considerations
Some parents have posed the question: instead of spending $23,700 on the Playworks partnership, why not just hire more recess aids to monitor the kids?
Mueller said this was a fair question, but that the district could not hire an aid for either school site for that amount. Furthermore, this is a position that has consistently shown high turnover.
Some other community members have suggested that parent volunteers work as recess monitors to reinforce good behaviors. Mueller said such a list was in the works, but that consistency and continuity with parent volunteers can create challenges.
The question of green space
Parents and kids also decried the lack of green space at Village Elementary where children can run and play. A child named Leslie said there was no grass, and the kids have to run on the hard cement. So if he falls, he gets hurt.
A first grader named Scotty shared a similar sentiment.
“I want to play on grass, but there’s no grass,” he said. “I want to sit under a tree, but there are no trees. So I can’t sit under a tree.”
Village dad Brian Schmidt said that the Village courtyard no longer has fresh grass, and the kids aren’t allowed to access the community garden or the green field like they used to.
“The kids can no longer make little gardens in there or have tiny apple trees,” he said.
Call for transparency and board reactions
A common thread among several of the parent comments was the need for more transparency from administration when it comes to decisions that affect students and families. One parent even said the leadership had eroded the public trust, calling for change at the district level.
Village mom Lauren Wilson said the administration selected the plan for the zoned recess, approved it and implemented it without seeking meaningful engagement with teachers or parents.
“I need to know that the people making decisions for my children share some basic values with our family about childhood,” said Wilson. “That independence matters. That social development matters. That children deserve reasonable autonomy and compliance is not the same thing as character.”
While trustee Mal Sandie said that he saw “lots of happy faces” when he observed recess recently at Village Elementary, trustee Renee Cavanaugh said it would be “irresponsible” to not listen to the voices of the kids and parents who spoke at the meeting. She asked the district to prepare a report on the zoned recess for discussion at the next school board meeting.
Superintendent Mueller said he regretted any situation across the district which could erode the trust between the community and CUSD, and that he was committed to taking the necessary steps to restore that trust. He offered an open invitation to members of the community and staff to reach out to him to start that work.
But he still backed a move towards a more supervised and safe recess.
“I believe that systems of how we provide a safe environment for recess and lunch had to change, and we have seen a success with this system at Silver Strand,” said Mueller. “We heard from Village parents, staff, and students that the previous model was creating conflict and was difficult to supervise. We are invested in revising systems in order to best meet the needs of our students while prioritizing a safe and engaging environment. That work is ongoing, always evolving, and definitely worth pursuing.”
On Monday, August 24, Village parents got an email from the district announcing that Principal Kuhns was out on family medical leave.
