Kennewick 5th Grader Fights for His Right to Play Before School

A 5th grader who attends Eastgate Elementary in Kennewick is petitioning his school to allow students to hit the playground after breakfast...I had no Idea kids were not allowed to play on the playground.

According to an interview with KEPR

KEPR spoke with the student, his family and administrators to find out why Kennewick schools don't allow students to be on the playground before school when other Tri Cities districts do.

Eastgate Elementary School 5th Grader Christian Magana says takes his duty as a student leader very seriously. That's why he took it upon himself to create a petition to ask for scheduled time before class to be able to interact and help his classmates.

"Goal: to be able to play talk and to have fun in the morning after breakfast," said Magana, adding "Explanation or reason: being able to have recess in the morning allows us to work on our socializing exercise and interacting skills."

In just one week he's gotten a number of his classmates and even a couple of teachers to back him.

Safety of unsupervised students seems to be the main concern of school officials and here's the official response:

Eastgate's principal says that if parents were to volunteer to chaperon morning recess, they would have to undergo background checks before doing so. She also added that there is a before and after school program offered to Eastgate families at no charge where students are often able to exercise in the gym. It's called 21st Century.