With the obesity rate rising among children, local schools are trying to make sure kids will be getting enough physical activity when they return to class in the fall.

State legislators are encouraging schools to increase the amount of time they give kids to get some exercise. So Harrisonburg schools are working toward a significant increase in the time kids devote to getting up and getting active.

For kids, it's a matter of days before they say goodbye to summer fun and get back to the classroom, but many kids in Harrisonburg's public schools will see an increased emphasis on getting some exercise this year.

Carolyn Miller has four children in Harrisonburg public schools, including three at Spotswood Elementary.

She says physical education classes and recess are important components for a kid's education.

Miller says, "Especially for the elementary kids because school is very intensive. It's very stressful, even in first and second grade. They have so much they have to accomplish."

The school board approved increasing the amount of time kids spend getting physical activity to 150 minutes per week Tuesday. Officials estimate elementary school kids currently get about 100 minutes in a week.

The time would be made available through a combination of P.E. classes, recess and extracurricular activities. Officials are also asking school staff not to routinely withhold recess from kids as a form of punishment.

"So many of our students are sedentary," says Pam Mason, instructional supervisor of physical education and health. "And, they need to have activity outside of their normal day. And sometimes, at school that's the only way that they can get it."

This school year, they'll try to reach the new goal at the elementary schools, and then try to phase it in to the other schools.

That's something that would make middle schooler Dicsy Barahona happy. In addition to staying healthy, she says it's an important part in kids' social lives.

"We want to get a break," says Barahona. "And we want to play with our other friends that are in the other classes."

School officials hope the exercise will translate into better in-class performance.

"Oxygen to the brain is going to increase the time that they can sit, the time they can absorb knowledge," says Mason.

"Just to have a little break where they can just relax and disengage from all the learning activities and a little bit of unstructured time is important," says Miller.

Officials with Rockingham County Schools say they've also been looking at this state recommendation, but they have not yet submitted a formal proposal to their school board.