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Highlands Today

Hitting TheTarget ... Or Not

P.E. School Requirements Have Been Strengthened But Challenges Remain

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

From left: Students Jake Hitt, 10, and Race Caldwell concentrate on the target during a round of horseshoes on Tuesday at Woodlawn Elementary.

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By MARC VALERO | Highlands Today

Published: September 26, 2007

Kickball. Dodgeball. Basketball.

These games are considered traditional Physical Education sports in schools.

Then there's pitching horseshoes and Bocce.

They may sound like unconventional P.E. activities but some Highlands County elementary school students are pitching horseshoes and playing Bocce to fulfill a new state mandate on P.E.

Starting this year, kindergarten through fifth-grade students are required to have 150 minutes of physical education each week.

Students in grades six through 12 who are enrolled in a P.E. class are supposed to get 150 minutes per week of physical education. At least two-thirds of this time is supposed to be dedicated to an activity of moderate intensity. The balance of the time may be used for classroom instruction or related topics.

Woodlawn Elementary physical education teacher Ted Boehme, with 37 years in education, believes the new P.E. requirements are an excellent start but more needs to be done.

Since some of the 150 minutes supposed to go toward P.E. per week can include classroom instruction on healthy living or other P.E.-related topics, elementary students may not be getting 30 minutes of daily playground activity.

Boehme and Fred Wild Elementary P.E. teacher Richard Bozeman see each student twice a week for 35 minutes.

"Right now we are not doing it at Woodlawn and it's going to be questionable how we are going to be able to go ahead and do this, this year," Boehme said, about complying with the new requirement.
Something had to give when the elementary school day was shortened by 20 minutes years ago to allow elementary school bus drivers to handle additional routes, he said.

"When we had P.E. every day, we weren't in the technology age that we are in," he added.

Today, students go to the computer lab, the media center, music class, which leaves only two days a week for P.E.

Bozeman has taught physical education at Fred Wild for 13 years.

"The first five years I taught I had four classes at a time; I had 100 kids out here," he said. "We had P.E. every day and then went down to one [P.E.] teacher per campus. There really wasn't any teaching going on; it was crowd control."

About 20 years ago, the school had three P.E. teachers and two paraprofessionals, he added.
Now, most elementary schools in the district have one P.E. teacher and one paraprofessional. Bozeman and Boehme teach students from two classrooms at a time.

"That's the thing with the new law, they need to hire at least one more P.E. teacher per campus," Bozeman said. "I just try to keep them active.

"We can't cure obesity; we can influence them, but it starts at home; they have to be active at home."
Classroom teachers are making up the remainder of the P.E. time to meet the required 150 minutes each week, said Fred Wild Elementary Principal Ruby Handley. They do it in a variety of ways, including health instruction and nutrition. The teachers can and do take the students out for organized physical activities.

There's only so much time in the school day, which must include a 90-minute reading block, math, science and a 30-minute lunch, she said.

Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum Rebecca Fleck said Tuesday the district is following the state recommendations and each school is responsible for adhering to those requirements.

Along with horseshoes, Woodlawn Elementary fifth-graders played Bocce on Tuesday.

"It's a passive activity. At this time of the year we try not to do too much too soon," Boehme said. Once the weather cools off a little bit the goal is to give them the maximum amount of participation in that half an hour.

The second-graders hopped, slid and crawled through a variety of relay races.

"Use those heels," Boehme said as the students slid on their backs moving as "torpedoes." "Work those legs."

He frequently encourages and acknowledges the students' efforts and concludes the class with by telling them of the health benefits of being physically active.

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