When a Fulton parent asked whether I’d ever written anything about high school physical education class waivers, I told her I didn’t realize students could waive the personal fitness requirement.
But I discovered they can if their districts use their flexibility pacts with the Georgia Department of Education to amend the state physical education requirement.
For instance, Fulton County Schools allows individual high schools to decide whether to grant a PE waiver if students participate in matching band or a varsity sport for two years. Most schools opt to offer the waivers.
But parent Ruth Hartman's local school, Northview High, does not grant waivers. Her son, along with many other students, can't fit PE into his schedule with the required foreign language and band classes. So, he may follow the example of other band members and take PE during the summer, for which parents have to pay $225.
Northview administrators explained the School Governance Council chose to maintain the PE requirement for all students, telling Hartman in an email: "The benefits of the PE/Health aspect outweighed the cost. We have been preaching balance and a healthy mind and body and the decision was made to protect that. The SGC felt that it was sending the wrong message otherwise."
Granting PE waivers to students who engage in physically demanding extracurriculars makes sense to me. I had two children in varsity sports, and daily practices ran two to three hours. In addition, my kids missed out on some courses they wanted to take in high school because they couldn’t fit them into their schedules.
If band or athletic practice can fulfill the personal fitness requirement and enable students to enroll in musical theater or computer design, it seems a win all around.
I asked Hartman to write a piece on why she believes schools, including her local one, ought to adopt the waivers.
By Ruth Hartman
Some Georgia high schools grant students a personal fitness waiver of the state graduation requirement for a physical education class if the teens participate in two seasons of marching band or a Georgia High School Association sanctioned sport. State law also allows students in JROTC to receive waivers.
The waiver makes sense. Students participating in varsity sports, marching band or JROTC often get more exercise than they would in PE class.
For example, participants in band endure hours of practice each year, often in the hot sun, carrying heavy instruments and keeping up with complex patterns. In fact, studies have shown that marching band members are athletes.
All students in qualifying activities should be given the option of a PE waiver. But in Fulton County not all high schools grant waivers, which seems unfair. For example, the waivers are not offered at my local high school, Northview.
A semester of PE equals 75 hours. Marching band members are required to participate in at least 114 hours of practice each year. Athletes practice similar hours. That means athletes and marching band members get more than double the required exercise over the two-year period.
How can a PE waiver help? As the waiver information listed online at Chattahoochee High School explains: “Students will have greater flexibility in designing their school schedule to meet their interests and needs. By opening one period for one semester, students could enroll in electives for which they otherwise would not have room, participate in work/study activities, or pursue advanced coursework through traditional and virtual course offerings.”
Students must be enrolled in a band class to participate in marching band. Athletes usually are required to take a weight training class in their off season. Additionally, math, science, social studies, foreign language and language arts are required for students most years. A student can only take six classes, so a student’s schedule fills up quickly.
Often, there is little time left to fulfill the PE requirement, forcing some kids to take the class over the summer, an unfair financial burden for many families. To satisfy the PE requirement, some students drop out of band, thus minimizing the importance of both the band program and music education.
Exercise can happen everywhere, and as one parent said, “They march around for hours a day in the hot sun. It beats hiding behind the bleachers during PE lap time.”
Students themselves contend the demands of a high school sport or band are often more rigorous and consistent than PE. As one student said about PE, “We had to dress out only three or four times a week and walk or run on the track. I would put my headphones on and walk. We would all walk the track, but would run past the teacher. We never played any sports or did any exercise.”
It’s time for all Fulton County high schools to recognize that physical education can happen outside the gym and waivers should be permitted for all students in band, varsity sports and JROTC.
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