ARHS drops gym for seniors, juniors

By Bob Dunn
Staff Writer

Published on February 16, 2007

Reluctantly joining a trend, the Amherst Regional School Committee voted unanimously to eliminate the physical education requirement for high school juniors and seniors, beginning next school year, at its meeting Feb. 6.

"I want kids to be healthy and break a sweat every day, too," said Amherst Regional High School Principal Mark Jackson. "I'm uncomfortable making this recommendation, but it's one that the situation requires."

The change is one that many schools in Massachusetts and throughout the country have already made.

In October 2004, The Boston Globe reported that due to the pressures of education reform, most Massachusetts high schools were ignoring a state law that requires students to take physical education each year. According to the Globe, "Schools elbowing aside physical education to cram in more academics is a state and national problem, worrying fitness specialists who say the reduced exercise time is increasing the prevalence of childhood obesity." Nationally, the Globe reported, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics showed under 6 percent of high schools then required physical education for juniors and seniors.

The "situation" Jackson referred to is that looming budget cuts, to the tune of $1.4 million in net reductions for fiscal 2008, are forcing the Amherst schools to cut staff. That will mean fewer class sections and electives will be available, which will force all students to add a second study period to their yearly schedule and reduce the number of actual classes students can take in a school year from 15 to 13.

Amherst Superintendent Jere Hochman said that keeping the physical education requirement would reduce students' class choices even further, down to 12.

Eliminating that requirement would allow more room in students' schedules to take another elective course.

ARHS juniors and seniors could still take physical education classes as electives under the new policy.

"Given the shrinking choices, we're taking this measure to counteract the impact of two study halls," Jackson said.

"We're making an educational choice which is budget-driven," committee Chairwoman Elaine Brighty said.

The plan would also change the structure of phys ed for ninth- and 10th-graders, and would either require a health class one year and phys ed the next, or a combination class for both years.

Committee member Andy Churchill said a silver lining in the plan might be if students could exercise some more creative options in exploring alternative physical education and fitness options.

Committee member Michael Hussin asked if students could be directed to after-school programs and activities as a means of replacing the exercise time they would lose during the school day.

"No, we're cutting those, too," Jackson said.

Massachusetts law requires that physical education be taught in all grades for all students in the public schools. But in 1996, the state Board of Education repealed regulations that had mandated at least 90 minutes of physical education instruction each week. That gave local school officials the authority to determine the hours of instruction for physical education.

Sherry Webb, a physical education teacher at Smith Academy in Hatfield, said the school is in its first year of not requiring gym classes for juniors and seniors. But the end of the requirement hasn't stopped juniors and seniors from taking gym classes four days a week.

"About half of our juniors and seniors have been active in our gym classes, which is about the same as it would have been before we started this policy," Webb said.

At Northampton High School, Salem Derby is the only physical education teacher, teaching about 180 of the 910 students, or about 20 percent of the student population, each year.

Derby said the high school hasn't required physical education credits for graduation since he's taught there. He said the high school offers wellness classes, which include adventure-based activities that instill leadership skills. But Derby only teaches three sections of gym classes each semester, with roughly 25-30 students each.

He said the lack of required gym credits stems from the days when a high school building project shifted gym classes to Smith Vocational High School.

"That was kind of the catalyst of the decline of student enrollment," Derby said. "There used to be five full-time gym teachers at Northampton High, and now there's only me. There has definitely been a sea change."

Derby said the physical education department lacks a voice to champion the cause of physical activity during the school day. He cited research showing that students have clearer minds when they have some sort of physical activity during the day, and that gym classes help students fight obesity and disease.