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Olympia Board Gears Up to Vote on PE Credit: Plans Would Let Kids Waive or Take Fitness Through Other Ways

Posted on: Monday, 13 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Heather Woodward, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

Feb. 12--OLYMPIA -- High school students likely will have greater flexibility soon in how to earn their second year of physical education credit.

The Olympia School Board could vote Monday on whether to broaden the ways students could earn the credit or have it waived.

The district requires students to take one semester of health and one of fitness during their freshman year of high school and then to take another full year of physical education to graduate.

But some students and parents say the graduation requirement makes it tough to fit in other classes such as foreign language, science and music.

"This existing policy has become very difficult to deal with for students aspiring to further their education in advanced classes or the arts," Parker Townley, a Capital High School sophomore, recently told the board. District administrators have outlined a proposal that would allow students who take five core classes plus one elective each year to earn their second year of PE credit before school, in summer school, through an alternative educational experience or through a fitness class at South Puget Sound Community College.

The district proposal also would allow principals to waive some high school students' second year of PE under exceptional circumstances.

But three other proposals -- two from school board members and one from a parent -- go even further. Though the proposals offer differing ideas about how to increase flexibility, all three would allow students to earn their second-year credit through participation in school-sponsored athletics.

School Board President Russ Lehman said he expects the board to approve one of those proposals, not the plan put forward by district administrators.

"I'm pretty sure one of them will be successful, but I don't know which," he said. "I have no reason to believe one of the board proposals will not be successful."

District administrators have said they oppose a system that would grant student athletes an option unavailable to all students. And, administrators say, the three more flexible proposals might not mirror the spirit of state laws intended to promote student fitness.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

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Source: The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

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