Yuma weighs in on student health revisions

Opportunity for public input to the Arizona Department of Education's forum considering revised standards on physical and health education was welcomed by Yuma parents, but some expressed dismay at the sparse turnout Wednesday.

State School Superintendent Tom Horne did not attend the forum at Yuma Elementary School District 1 offices but offered his view in a phone interview. Horne said it is his aim to have all high schools require physical education every day, either in a P.E. class or as part of an afterschool sports activity.

Horne noted he was pleased when he persuaded the Legislature to ban junk food sales in elementary and middle schools in 2005. He had wanted to include high schools as well, but the Legislature rejected that part of the bill. High schools may voluntarily bar them, he added.

Three ADE health and nutrition staff representatives screened a power point presentation to explain the process. Yuma was the sixth and final stop of a public comment gathering tour that made two stops in Phoenix, one each in Tucson, Flagstaff and Window Rock.

Further comments about revisions may be posted online until Monday at www.ade.az.gov by clicking on the Hot Topics icon. It is anticipated  the state board will be presented recommendations by October, and Horne said he expects they will be approved.

Current standards were adopted in 1997, and proposed revisions were posted to ADE's Web page a couple of months ago, said Miranda Graves, ADE school health coordinator. A $2.5 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control will cover the cost of revisions, she said.

In addition to revising standards, the grant provides technical assistance to schools, trains teachers and administrators who handle P.E. and health education. But the main thing is to build an infrastructure to directly incorporate a model that also includes counseling and psychological services, healthy school environments, family and community involvement, and nutritional services, Graves added.

Breann Westmore, ADE physical education coordinator, said there has been much demand from teachers, parents, school nurses and doctors to update standards. There are six standards for P.E. and eight for health education, and for each of those is a performance objective they want to set.

If ADE approves the new standards, there will be a year of training of all school physical and health education practitioners during the 2009-10 academic year and standards will be implemented in 2011-12, but those dates are fluid, depending on board approval, Westmore said.

"Nowadays, schools must be creative with use of time they allow for P.E., both with a quality P.E. class and physical activity during the day."

Nerissa Emers, ADE nurse coordinator, added that from her perspective, healthy students are more prepared for academics.

Leigh Ann Howell, a parent of first- and fourth-grade students at Sunrise Elementary School, said one of the things important to her was the noticeable lack of representation of any school staff except District 1 Associate Superintendent Dwayne Sheppard. Howell added her main concern was that schools are trying to combat obesity, yet physical education is no longer mandated.

Laura Kline, parent of a third-grade student at Otondo School and a seventh-grade student at Castle Dome Middle School, said she thinks the P.E. program is excellent and the teachers well qualified. Yet she fears that health curriculum may cut into P.E. classes and therefore rob children of physical activities.

Melissa Zaja, a parent of fourth- and sixth-grade students at Rolle Elementary School, said she was very thankful the ADE representatives visited Yuma and hopes they will tie new standards into nutritional standards as well.