Parent asks school board to fully fund PE program

Scott McLennan spoke to the Rogers City Board of Education Monday regarding cuts made in physical education classes at Rogers City Elementary, but it appears the situation will have a temporary solution. The amount dedicated for physical education was reduced from two times a week to one with administrators having to reshuffle schedules shortly before the beginning of the school year because of the retirement of a certified physical education instructor. ?I think that?s very inadequate, very unacceptable,? McLennan told the school board, of which he was a member before July 1.

?With the contract that we have, if I didn?t call back the teachers that were on layoff, we would have hired a teacher and probably be forced to hire back those other two also,? said Deb Jones, RC Elementary principal.

JONES SAID if there are any teacher retirements, she?ll post the phys-ed position and reinstate the program to two days a week. Superintendent Ed Schultz said there will be a teacher going on maternity leave, and a qualified instructor is expected to take the teacher?s place. McLennan believes with statistics on obese children increasing, the schools should take an active role in improving nutrition and keeping youngsters active.

?It was interesting, my wife had just returned from a conference where the Michigan Surgeon General was speaking and she said, ?I implore you all to go back to your communities and ask your school boards, and your school administrations, not to cut physical education but to expand physical education for the youth here in the state of Michigan.? ? In 1980, six percent of youth six through 19 were overweight, McLennan said.

?THE YEAR 2000, it?s gone from six percent to 15 percent ? 15 percent of our children are overweight. Of course being in the health care field, this is very near and dear to me. I look at patients who came to me from hospital settings who were overweight,? said McLennan. ?Where does it start? We are now knowing and understanding that it is starting in our younger years, in our schools.?

Jones said teachers have been given the opportunity to use the gym if and when they want it. ?Both buildings have the gym empty in the afternoon. In this building (Grambau Center) it?s pretty much clear after 10 o?clock,? said Jones. ?Any time the teachers want to take the kids down, because they are K-5 certified in all subjects, they can,? Jones said she has told the staff. ?If they want to go down for a half hour, 45 minutes, any day or every day, they probably can find time to do that. We?ve gone through a quarter of school and I have not seen one teacher go down there to do that.?

McLennan also said the current physical education program, K-6, does not meet the standard for accreditation.

THE ELEMENTARY, while being accredited from North Central Association, will receive a violation but won?t lose accreditation. ?If all you want is to put a certificate on the wall and say you are accredited, if that?s what you want, then fine,? McLennan said. ?But if truly want you want is a rounded program, following the standards of our accreditation program, that we worked so hard for…then please, I would ask you to round out the curriculum by funding full physical education for our students.?

Jones said the entire situation could have been remedied before the beginning of the school year if there had more time for a teacher to take the required classes, but the late retirement, coupled with the terms in the contact that needed to be followed, made it difficult to come up with another solution.

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