NEW YORK – Playground consultants hired to advise public school officials and kids on properly play during recess continue to irk parents who believe the growing trend is completely unnecessary.

A California-based company called Playworks is landing contracts with school districts across the country to teach officials and students how to create structured play time that shuns bullying and chaos in favor of inclusion and positive reinforcement.

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In New York City, Playworks “recess coaches” working in five elementary schools in Chinatown, Brooklyn, Prospect Heights, Clinton Hill, Park Slope and Upper East Side neighborhoods with a strategy that “addressed a variety of situations – bullying, exclusion, chaos – with solutions that carry over to the rest of the school day,” the nonprofit said, according to CBS New York.

The effort has cost NYC taxpayers at least $425,000 so far, the news site reports.

“This year, Playworks New York is serving more than 10,800 students in 16 low-income Brooklyn and Manhattan schools with our full-time program, teaching valuable skills like teamwork and cooperation while reducing conflict and restoring learning time,” the Playworks website states. “We’re also poised to reach thousands more students, teachers and youth workers around the state through Playworks Pro.”

“We offer a range of Pro programs intended for groups of 10 or more participants, from half-day workshops to full-year immersions. Depending on your staff, budget, and goals, we can help you select the option that’s best for your school, district, or youth organization,” according to the site.

Many parents in New York and other districts that employ the nonprofit think the effort is a huge waste of tax dollars that crushes students’ creativity by lording over them on the playground.

“I think kids definitely need to play,” NYC parent Chelsea Melvin said. “I don’t know that they need to be taught to play. I feel like they might know how to do that intrinsically.”

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“You don’t want to not have kids be creative,” a Park Slope father, identified only as Gabriel, told CBS New York.

Another parent, Lauren Garbel, questioned the spending, undoubtedly because school and union officials constantly complain about “underfunded” public school budgets.

“I’m stunned that the city has the money to spend on these coaches,” she said.

Playworks is currently advising 900 schools in 23 states, CBS reports, and the folks in New York certainly aren’t the first to question the need for “recess coaches.”

Hundreds of parents at Concord Elementary in Minnesota’s Edina School District signed an online petition to oppose a $30,000 Playworks pilot project at their school and another elementary school, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

“The philosophy or Playworks does not fit Concord,” Kathy Sandven, mother of two twin boys at Concord, told the news site. “It is a structured philosophy – an intervention philosophy – not allowing kids for free play.”

Boston College psychologist Peter Gray, author of “Free to Learn,” told the Tribune games created by adults are not truly “play,” and lessons students learn from following their own motivations are critical for their development.

Edina parent Caroline Correia seems to agree with Gray. She said her fourth-grade son Liam isn’t a big fan of Playworks.

“He feels like that’s not playing anymore,” she said.