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Should athletes, cheerleaders and band members be given a pass from gym?

Clay Swanson and Sean Sibbing play basketball during gym class at Stivers School for the Arts. The Dayton school board is considering whether to waive the physical education requirement for student athletes and cheerleaders so they can focus on other areas of study.

Jan Underwood Clay Swanson and Sean Sibbing play basketball during gym class at Stivers School for the Arts. The Dayton school board is considering whether to waive the physical education requirement for student athletes and cheerleaders so they can focus on other areas of study.

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Is the idea of letting student athletes and band members opt out of gym fair?

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By Anthony Gottschlich, Staff Writer Updated 11:33 PM Sunday, November 15, 2009

DAYTON — When Keith Cosby was a kid growing up in Rahway, N.J., he would leave his house in the morning and play “until dark thirty.”

“We’d go out and play forever and ever,” recalled Cosby, now 52 and a physical education teacher at Valerie Elementary School.

It’s not the same today, Cosby said. Not in the age of video games, cable television and the Internet, all of which are feeding a national epidemic of childhood obesity. Gym class, he said, might be the last refuge for kids to learn that “a healthy lifestyle should be a lifetime goal.”

Cosby believes that a lesson is at risk, however. The Dayton school board, following a 2007 law and other school districts around the state, is considering waiving the physical education requirement in high schools for students who participate in interscholastic athletics, marching band or cheerleading for at least two full seasons.

Leading the effort is Donna LaChance, who has four children in Dayton schools, three at Stivers School for the Arts.

“It is obvious that those students involved in athletics and cheerleading understand the importance of physical activity and have chosen to make it a priority in their lives,” LaChance said. “The fact that they are willing to fit conditioning, practices and competitions into their schedules is a demonstration of their understanding of the importance of physical fitness and their commitment to it.”

LaChance notes the law requires students to make up the gym credit in another area. Students could use the option to bolster their academic record and better prepare for college, she said.

Board member Joe Lacey said the board hasn’t decided one way or the other. Its special meeting Monday, Nov. 16, is simply “to learn more about it.”

“I think there really is some genuine interest in exactly what do we teach in P.E. and how would this affect the product we provide,” Lacey said.

The policy at other districts

Oakwood Superintendent Mary Jo Scalzo said her school district considered but rejected the policy two years ago.

“Students enrolled in our P.E. and health classes, they learn about a lifetime of physical activity habits and opportunities and they also learn about the science behind it — how that interacts with things like diet, nutrition, exercise and the risks of a sedentary lifestyle,” Scalzo said.

Centerville schools adopted the policy in 2007.

“I think it’s gone very well,” Superintendent Tom Henderson said. “We run a pretty tight program. We make sure the criteria that’s applied to this situation is carried out to the fullest extent. It’s pretty rigorous with its expectations.”

Stivers cheerleading coach Shawn Underwood, whose daughter was a student athlete at Stivers, supports a change and thinks it should apply to the high school’s dance majors as well.

“I know that being involved in the dance program alone has got to be more physically demanding than most gym classes,” Underwood said. “They have to be very physically fit and agile.”

Stivers Principal Erin Dooley also supports a change, saying, “It’s not like the P.E. classes are going to go away. But for those kids who are very focused on building a really strong transcript, that gym requirement gets in the way.”

Cosby and other gym teachers worry a policy change could be a slippery slope that could undermine the value of physical education across the district.

If anything, said Dunbar High School gym teacher and varsity basketball coach Peter Pullen, physical education should be required every year, like English.

“We need to know how to prepare the body for the long-term haul of your life,” he said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7408 or agottschlich@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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