Sherman Elementary School’s 530 students fill the gym each morning, spending the first 20 minutes of their school day in motion.
On Wednesday, the Nampa kids, their teachers and Principal Nancy Chopko did the Macarena and the Cotton-Eyed Joe.
The primary goal is to get kids energized and ready for a day of learning, but the daily dance and exercise also boosts the school’s physical education offerings and dovetails with a state and national effort to combat childhood obesity, said PE teacher Kerri Kennel, who initiated the morning motion program several years ago when she and Chopko worked at Nampa’s Lake Ridge Elementary. The program continues at Lake Ridge, and other district schools make similar efforts.
It’s just one of many ways Idaho schools and teachers go beyond limited PE class time to help fight an epidemic of overweight, under-active children.
In Boise, eight elementary schools offer various physical activities at lunch through a Lifetime Movers grant, providing 90 minutes of weekly exercise on top of the hour of designated PE classes, said Corinne Morgan, PE specialist for Koelsch and White Pine elementaries.
“It’s fun and it cuts down on the behaviors during lunch that can cause them problems,” Morgan said.
Recent studies have shown that 17 percent of the nation’s 6- to 19-year-olds are obese, and more than a third are overweight. The rates have about doubled in the past three decades.
CONGRESS TAKES NOTE
As cash-strapped public schools have cut back on spending for physical education, some members of Congress want to intervene, worried that the nation’s schools are churning out too many fat children.
In Washington state, the Franklin Pierce School District near Tacoma discovered that it could save a quarter-million dollars by reassigning its seven PE teachers to different positions. And in New York, a city audit found that just 6 percent of the city’s schools came anywhere near to offering the required weekly two hours of PE for elementary-age children.
When Congress considers overhauling its federal education law early this year, a bipartisan group of 85 House members wants to include language that would pressure schools to offer more PE: Their idea is to force school officials to issue yearly reports on how much time students engage in physical activity, making it easier for the public to compare schools.
The plan will face opposition from many Republicans, who say curriculum decisions should be left to states and school boards. And school officials expect the fight over federal education funding to intensify, with education facing automatic cuts of $3.5 billion in 2013 — about 8 percent — after Congress’ so-called supercommittee failed to deliver a deficit-reduction plan in November.
No federal law requires public schools to offer physical education. And only five states — Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Vermont — require PE every year from kindergarten through 12th grade.
IDAHO’S REQUIREMENTS
Statewide education rules require all Idaho elementary and middle school students to receive health and fitness education, but the number and duration of classes are up to individual districts.
At Idaho high schools, districts are required to offer physical education, but students aren’t required to take it. State requirements list PE among six instructional areas from which all students must select at least two to take for credit.
PE was removed from Idaho’s graduation requirements in the mid-1990s, Department of Education spokeswoman Melissa McGrath said. But some districts add their own requirements.
Idaho districts generally offer more PE than the state requires but substantially less than what is recommended by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, according to a December 2009 report by the State Department of Education’s Coordinated School Health Program.
That study found that Idaho elementary students receive a little more than a third of the NASPE’s recommendation for minutes per week of physical education — 55 minutes per week compared with 150. High school students who take PE get about 194 minutes per week of PE class time, close to the recommended 225.
According to a 2010 NASPE report, Alabama is the only state that complies with the association’s recommendations.
The 2009 study of Idaho PE recommended reinstating a PE graduation requirement, setting PE time requirements for all grade levels and requiring fitness assessments of Idaho students.
Those things haven’t happened, McGrath said, but the report’s recommendation to expand professional development to model best practices in PE has been embraced in all regions of the state.
Boise’s Morgan said the Idaho Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance plans to ask the Legislature, possibly as early as next year, to set specific requirements for how much PE Idaho students should receive in elementary, middle and high schools.
EFFORTS TO INCREASE FITNESS
The State Department of Education requires every Idaho district to create a wellness plan that details how schools will incorporate health and wellness into the school day, McGrath said. The Coordinated School Health program works with schools to implement walking programs, replace soda machines with dairy or water offerings and encourage school staff to model healthy activities.
Many Idaho PE teachers are passionate about increasing kids’ activity levels, and they go far beyond class time to accomplish that — partnering with community organizations and coming up with new, fun ways to get students moving, Morgan said. On Wednesday, she met with the Tennis is Elementary program, aiming to offer tennis after school to first- through sixth-graders.
In Nampa, Kennel aims to keep students active throughout the day, beyond the 50-minute PE classes they get once or twice a week. In addition to the morning motion sessions, Sherman Elementary has a lunchtime running club for fourth- and fifth-graders and a Fuel Up to Play program that advocates 60 minutes of exercise every day.
Schools from Boise to Caldwell team with the Treasure Valley YMCA for bike rodeos.
In Washington, D.C., lawmakers from both parties are offering varied plans in an attempt to get kids exercising more.
The FIT Kids Act would measure schools on how they’re progressing in comparison to national standards. And it would pay for research to examine the link between children’s health and their academic achievement. Another proposed bill would give grants to schools to help them build or repair athletic facilities.
Kristin Rodine: 377-6447
