Local PE teachers devoted to exerciseas childhood obesity now a weighty issue
Are local physical education teachers concerned about the lack of emphasis on physical activity in the face of rising obesity rates among children? You bet.
Larry Underhill, one of four PE teachers at Warren County Middle School, said they remain committed to exercising the body as well as the mind.
“In fact that’s part of our mission statement here,” Underhill said. According to Underhill, all of the PE teachers at WCMS are certified to teach PE or health, and they all have master’s degrees.
“We offer a variety of team sports,” Underhill said. “We also try to correlate classes to what’s in season. In the fall, we try to do flag football and soccer. In the winter, it’s basketball and volleyball.”
Underhill added there are plans to add a weight room downstairs from the main gym and said it’s going to open up an opportunity to work on strength and conditioning.
Aside from students involved in the band and a few office assistants, WCMS students have PE every day. “Every kid gets daily physical education, which is good.”
Underhill added that elementary students do not get to PE every day due to other classes like art and music, and the emphasis on academics sometimes pushes PE to the sidelines. He agrees that obesity among children is becoming an epidemic.
Underhill believes parent involvement and concern for their child’s health can make a difference, but PE alone is not the answer. “It goes back to the parents,” he said. “We can only do so much. We are giving them roughly 45 minutes of PE every day, but once they leave here they’ve got the video games.”
Underhill said students are fitness tested twice a year.
“We let them know, especially if they stay at this school, how much they weighed in sixth grade, how strong they were and their conditioning.”
Nathan Davis, a PE teacher at Bobby Ray, takes the education of the whole child very seriously and makes every effort to keep his students on target with the state curriculum.
His goal is to make Bobby Ray’s PE program a model for other schools to follow. “I did my student teaching at a school that is a state demonstration school,” Davis said. “I’d like to make this school a demonstration school.”
Davis, through the generosity of the Bobby Ray PTO, was able to get some much-needed equipment, including a climbing net. He hopes to get together with classroom teachers to coordinate his lessons with theirs. He also plans to have students write about their physical activity, both in PE and outside of school.
Bobby Cox, director of instruction for Warren County Schools, is a former PE teacher himself. He says local schools follow closely the state’s guidelines for PE curriculum. The state PE curriculum does not, however, include a time requirement.
“Several years ago there was a requirement that a student had to have a certain amount of time doing physical activity, but they did away with that,” said Cox, citing new federal and state guidelines on academics.
Recently questions have been raised regarding certification of PE teachers. Cox said the certification is “an endorsement added to their teaching license, or they can major in physical education.” Cox said either way the PE teacher takes classes toward that endorsement or degree and is qualified to teach PE.
Cox said the education of the whole child is important, and Warren County Schools will continue to try to motivate students in PE to pursue physical activity and lifelong wellness. “A healthy child is a happy child and a child who learns,” said Cox.