This Week News

1/31/2008

DAVID J. CROSS

ThisWeek Staff Writer

Columbus Board of Education member Betty Drummond voiced her opposition last week to cuts in physical education and health classes at the high school level.

During the Jan. 22 board meeting, Superintendent Gene Harris presented a monitoring report for the non-core content areas in the district. Among those were physical education and health.

Currently, nearly all district students receive high school credit for physical education and health at a lower grade level.

Harris said this is a result of limited school funding and the need to teach core classes.

Drummond took exception to this, saying she would like to see the school day lengthened and health and physical education classes restored.

“In my opinion, there has been a great reduction in arts, physical education and health,” Drummond said. “Not so much the amount, but how it is spread. Yet we are giving greater attention to core technology and languages.

“I just want it said that it is of great concern to me that our students are spending too much time sitting and not paying attention to the health and well being of their body,” Drummond said.

Drummond went on to say the district cannot properly educate students about health and physical education at the high school level when students take the classes in eighth grade.

In addition, she opposed students receiving physical education credit for participating in sports.

“The focus of those activities is on being the best. The kid that needs it the most is used the least,” Drummond said. “If you are on the basketball team or the football team and you’re a kid that probably needs to have physical activity you are probably the one that is least used.

“The focus of the coach is to win,” she said.

In the upcoming months, the district is expected to discuss placing an operating levy on the November ballot.

Drummond expressed where she believes any money that might be generated by the levy should go.

“My push as we start to push towards a levy, is we’ve got to increase our school day — and I wish we could increase the school year as well — because we have got to start paying attention to the health and physical activity of our young kids,” Drummond said. “We might be making them smarter, but what good is it going to do if they aren’t healthy.”

Harris said the district faces enormous pressure to meet all state education requirements.

“Even adding a period back in the day — it is still tight,” Harris said.

Harris said the district needs to make sure both parents and children are interested in health.

In response to Drummond’s comments about returning physical education classes, Harris said even if the classes were restored to high school students, they are still only required to take two semesters of classes.

“I could really get that done my ninth-grade year if I wanted to,” Harris said, speaking as a student. “I could get the semester of health done in my 10th-grade year and by the middle of my 10th-grade year — the end of my 10th-grade year — I’m done.”

Drummond said the district needs to update its physical education curriculum.

“You’ve got to update; you’ve got to have things that attract,” Drummond said. “Why don’t we have an aerobics class? Why don’t we have some of the things that kids would be interested in?”

This could include moving physical education away from cycling through various sports.

“If I wanted to do that I’d go get on the team,” Drummond said.

<b>dcross@thisweeknews.com