A mother in northwest suburban Chicago is angry over her 7-year-old daughter being rewarded with candy and being exposed to non-educational movies during recess, according to a report in the Daily Herald on Thursday.
Concerned parent Jennifer Nickels is criticizing a first grade teacher at Dundee Highlands Elementary School in West Dundee, Illinois, for handing out candy as a reward and showing movies such as “Toy Story” and “The Wild” during recess. Nickel’s believes that showing youngsters movies during recess does nothing to stimulate children’s minds or imaginations and turns them into “zombies” reported the Daily Herald.
Nickel’s said her daughter’s teacher, Ms. Waldschmidt, responded to an email Nickel’s sent, saying that the movie’s were shown to children during lunch periods when there weren’t enough parent volunteers.
Nickel’s says she’s taking her plight to the media because she wants the school to enact policies to forbid these practices which she says undermine her values and teachings at home. Nickels says doling out candy an incentive for good behavior promotes bad eating habits and obesity and that the movies have no educational value.
“Instead of getting like pencils and erasers or hanging up artwork, a lot of teachers give candy, Nickel’s said. “And the principal seems okay with it,” she added.
Nickels said that her daughter has been getting candy as much as three times per week, but wasn’t fully aware how often this was happening until March, when the practice became much more frequent.
Principal Schmidt and Assistant Superintendent Corriveau of District 300 schools said both practises are on hold through the end of the year. Principal Schmidt said she will hand out a survey to parents and determine how to proceed depending on the feedback she gets from other parents.