MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Students in two Edina School District elementary schools are complaining that adults are ruining recess.

District officials opted this year to employ a “recess consultant” to launch a pilot project at Concord and Normandale elementary schools designed to make students’ play time safer and “more inclusive,” KARE 11 reports.

“This is really about active play, it’s about being inclusive to all kids that we have from all the different cultures and backgrounds, so it’s about teaching kids the social skills to have healthy play,” Randal Smasal, the district’s director of teaching and learning, told the news site.

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“The staff talk to the kids about what quality play looks like, how to be inclusive.”

The structured and inclusive approach to recess is promoted by the nonprofit firm Playworks, which works with school districts across the country to remake the recess experience with adults who hawk over students to police their behavior and correct it.

The idea is to replace phrases like “Hey, you’re out!” with ones like “good job” and “nice try,” in an effort to reduce bullying on the playground and ensure all students engage in activities, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

But parents like Kathy Sandven, who has twin boys at Concord, seem to believe school officials are shortchanging students with too much supervision during their free time.

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

Edna school officials spent $30,000 on Playworks consultants this summer to set up a pilot program at the two elementary schools that will ultimately determine if the approach expands to the district’s other schools. For now, students have the option of participating in a Playworks activity of the week, or starting their own game – which must include their classmates.

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“We’ve heard from a lot of children who say the games at recess are more fair this year than last year, but the older kids are having a harder time adjusting because they’re not used to organized activities at recess,” Smasal said.

Normandale principal Chris Holden told the Star Tribune he’s already noticed a drop in after recess student visits to his office or the school nurse. The decrease in conflicts, and improved focus in class, is what Playworks Minnesota executive director Shauna McDonald believes will make students “incredibly successful adults.”

“It’s about creating opportunity,” she said.

But others, including 177 parents at Concord Elementary who signed an online petition in opposition of Playworks, as well as Boston College psychologist Peter Gray, don’t think school officials are doing students any favors with the new structured approach play time.

Gray argues in his book “Free to Learn” that games created and managed by adults are not genuine “play.” He believes the important lessons students learn from following their own motivations are critical for their development, according to the Star Tribune.

Parent Caroline Correia said her fourth-grade son, Liam, isn’t a big fan of the adult intervention on the playground.

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

Parent Lee Blum penned a blog post about her fifth-grade son’s experience with Playworks, further elaborating on the need for free play.

“What it’s leaving these kids without is an opportunity to have time to grow into a problem solver, to deal the conflict, and to really have an opportunity to go out, bust out of those doors and be free,” Blum told KARE 11. “My son should have time to just go out and play, climb a tree if he wants to, play soccer, play hockey.”

Blum also believes that students who are not included in certain games or activities also learn a valuable lesson that’s completely ignored with Playworks.

“I remember as a kid struggling with that as well – being left out, being not picked for something,” Blum said. “Unfortunately that’s a skill in real life that we all have to deal with, and it happens on the playground. And that’s okay.”