Physical Education IS a Priority!

At Tuesday's Board meeting, with a huge turnout, we unanimously adopted a PE motion that I authored and introduced with Board Members Tamar Galatzan and Julie Korenstein. This motion is the fourth in a series of student health related motions I have authored, the first being banning the sale of soda in our schools, then the sale of junk food and thirdly improving the nutritional quality of foods served in our cafeterias.

With the PE motion, my aim was to raise awareness about the ongoing problem of childhood obesity, and to send a message to my colleagues, the LAUSD leadership and the community, that physical education IS a priority. Both non-compliance with state law and large class sizes – upwards of 80 students in some cases – are unacceptable to me. My immediate intent with this motion is to ensure that students receive the PE program that the law requires and eventually to reduce PE class sizes. In light of the recent budget cuts, I wanted to have as perfect knowledge as possible about the cost impacts of such an action, which is why I asked the Superintendent to bring a cost analysis of the class size reductions back to the Board in September.

Thanks to all the supporters - parents, students, teachers, health advocates who came out to support this motion! Your efforts helped us win this important vote!


Here are the highlights of the motion:

- Educate us (new Board members, Superintendent, leadership) on the importance of physical activity to both health and student achievement
- Remind us of the CA Ed Code mandates regarding physical education
- Establish new transparencies around our physical education program implementation at our school site by including such data in our District and School Accountability Report Cards
- Adopt the CA Dept of Education’s standards for PE (Physical Education Model Content Standards for California Public Schools K-12
- Ensure that the physical education facilities are designed, developed, and constructed according to the California Department of Education Guide to School Site Analysis and Development
- Call for an annual report on compliance with this motion and the state law
- Ask the Superintendent to bring us a plan for decreasing class size in PE which in some of secondary schools are as large as 80 students a class