wow I don't know if I've been lucky w/my daughter and her schools or Texas has a really good requirement for PE. In k-4 she had it every day and did some sort of excercising/gym thing and now in 5th (diff. school) she has it for an hour 3 times a week and also does PE "stuff"... they even have them suit up in a uniform. She moves again to another school for 6th next year and I'm a little worried about them as they are a Tier 1 school so guess I'll see.

Here's a source for some important scientific data supporting the need for exercise:
FROM www.carrollschool.org:
Research Update: "Spark" by Dr. John Ratey

"Spark" written by Dr. John Ratey of Harvard Medical School lays out a compelling agenda for today's schools. We have long known that exercise (elevated heart rate, aerobic exercise) makes people feel good. It improves our health, our mood, and keeps anxious behaviors at bay. Ratey makes the case that "exercise is the single most powerful tool that we have to optimize the function of our brains." What is this saying to schools? Shouldn't schools redesign themselves to begin every day with this type of exercise? Exercise amplifies the production of brain-derived neurotropic factors (Miracle-Gro for the brain) that make the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex ready to learn. The only school system in America (Naperville, Illinois) that performs consistently with the top achieving countries in the world in math and science employs this exercise philosophy.

i just sent out the same question. My daughter has gym 1 time a week and weather permitting outside recess. NOT ENOUGH. There has been times she tells me that for gym class they watched a movie-explain that. I asked the PE teacher why that was, and he told me its in the cirriculiam for the marking period. schools need to take some responsability for child obeisity -they do have our children for six hours out of the day!!!

Not sure of your son's school or state, but look up the requirements. Some states require an amount of time to be allocated for PE. It would in your son's interest to google this information and coordinate this with the school pe teacher. She could direct your next step. Keep in mind obesity in children is climbing and guidelines for physical exercise is being monitored to assist children in maintaining healthy lifestyle choices.

My first response is why don't you get your kid out of a failing school ?--parents usually have the choice to move to a better-performing school in the district if your home school is failing, but your school may not tell you that. Check with the district office. As for the PE situation, my son is in one of the top performing elementary schools in our district, and his teacher often finds an excuse not to have PE, including tests and stupid assemblies. We do have a PE specialist at our school (money raised from the parents), but she is only repsonsible for only 1 of the 2 PE sessions. It's a truly sad state of affairs that pe, music and art aren't considered essential to education -- you see what good it's done by virtually eliminating them from our schools.

I totally agree. We have always had a great elementary PE program district wide, and this year our local elementary has a new PE teacher who is very young, and very much committed to fitness, nutrition, and health issues. She is also committed to teaching proper techique, and good sportsmanship, and is an advocate of keeping winning and losing in proper perspective.

While I believe most parents approve of and appreciate her approach, some parents think PE should be more fun and games - similar to a sports league. I believe we are truly blessed!

In reply to requests for suggestion for approaching administrators, I would begin by seeking guidance from a University with a good Physical Education Department. I am sure they have seen and done plenty of research on the issue - and you both share a common interest - advocating for an emphasis on quality programs and professionalism in physical education and health. Another source of counsel would be a local group of Pediatric physicians. They are likely to also have good contacts in the community.

It is in our National best interest. Change begins by starting at very early ages. Preventive health is the key to lower health care costs, enhances productivty, and increased quality of life.

I encourage you to pursue the issue and advocate for change.

This is also the case at my daughters' school, but I would like to talk with the principal about changing somethings because I believe Physical Education is very important for children and stimulating their minds as well as hearts. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to approach the admin, and lisaedit, what type of school non-profit do you mean, like a PTA of sorts? thanks

It's a sad commentary on the times we live in but I see the decline in PE time as quite a trend across the country in schools due to two reasons: the increased time devoted to preparing for standardized tests and the lack of resources for PE specialists in schools. One of the things parents did in the community where my daughters went to school was raise money through the local schools' nonprofit foundation that was earmarked for the PE specialist. This was a position that was threatened by budget cuts many times but each time the parent community rallied and raised the necessary funds to keep the PE program going. It's so much better, too, if you have a PE specialist, rather than a regular classroom teacher, teaching PE. This person has as his sole mission to teach PE and keep kids fit!

yes, My son also is in grade 5 and likes gym very much but they have it only once a week. I am not sure why. The school has emphasis on academics but i think should allow students to unwind.

Here in So Cal, at my son and dau's school, they have PE two times a week for 30 mins. They have elimated their afternoon recess and have combined that time between the morning and lunch recess. So "technically" they did not lose thier afternoon recess.

And the gov wants to know why their are so many children overweight. My children are not overweight, however, we play outside alot and supplement with extra sporting events.

Sadly just like with thier education the schools are leaving all exercise to the parents as well, when we are all supposed to partner together to educate our children.

I am the mother of 4 and I have 6 grandchildren.In our school my children had a PE class but did very little. They would have what was called unsupervised play time and this has taken me to the Er on more than one occasion. We protested and for awhile the children would be supervised then every thing goes back till another child gets hurt. My children were very active in after school sports. Baseball, football, basketball, and dancing so that when they entered jr high they were on the schools team.

It is happening in the Seattle area as well. Fortunately our elementary school does have a full time PE teacher; PE is really important to our principal. I know other schools are not as lucky.

We supplement with after school programs for our girls - Soccer, Dance, Swimming. We try to have 2-3 days of "active" after school activities. This puts a burden on us, but we want want girls to be active. (note - even with all the activities they have, my girls can't pass the fitness test.)

The PTSA, if it is strong, can raise the necessary funds to hire the staff for the arts, technology, pe and drama classes. Our PTSA pays for a portion of an instrumental music teacher, Kindergarten teaching assistants and playground monitors. It is unfortunate that we have to do that, but it seems to be the current reality.

My child's school has PE once a week. They usually play active games. Just recently they took the fitness test, you remember those? Push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks,etc. And the majority of kids did not do well. My son can do only about 10 push-ups and 5 sit-ups; he's 8 and not overweight. Unfortunately, it is not like when we grew up and the parents have to pick up the slack now. I am going to start a work out program with my son, just doing the basics, to help him build his strength.

This is very sad to hear that PE is not taken seriously in schools and that this class seems like it's being "cut" from the budget. In San Francisco, this is true in the public schools. Often times parents hold fundraisers to raise the necessary funds to hire the staff for the arts, technology, pe and drama classes. However, not all schools have the strong parent community to be able to raise such funds. It takes work to raise the funds. You may also want to band together with the other parents and rotate organizing an after school sports/PE time time at a nearby playground. It'll also be a good way for the kids to get to play together outside of school and get to know their friend's parents.

My son is in kindergarten at a charter school. He doesn't have organized PE, but he gets an hour recess every day and his class goes for daily walks in the neighborhood. Our neighborhood public school, which we didn't send him to, had PE twice a week with a 20-minute recess every day. This was a deal-breaker for us and our very active little boy.

Here in Denver, CO, most parents are facing a "news flash", our kids are becoming obese. The public schools have been preparing parents as well as students for more intensified PE programs, which has it's pro and cons. My children are not in the red zone so to speak, but I like the fact that the gym and playgrounds (elementary) are equiped with low impact AND high impact items/programs. I'm torn because now the schools are talking "requirements" of PE into their stats and parents are becoming angry at school officials for even implying that their children are fat therefor initiating judement amongst peers as well as parents who are not health consiencious (sp).