Summer Greetings!

Very best wishes from pelinks4u for a healthy and productive summer. We hope you will take time to recover and rejuvenate from an unexpectedly challenging school year. Be sure to enjoy family, friends, and course spend as much time as you can in the great outdoors. As usual, we combine two pelinks4u issues during the summer. During your leisure hours we also invite you to enjoy the following articles:

Social Networking in Education - If like me you feel lost when it comes to instant messaging and "twittering," Martha Beagle and Don Hodges provide a great introduction. It's easy to be dismissive of these new communication trends, but as Martha and Don explain, today's technology offers new and innovative ways to communicate and share information. It's probably timely for all of us to catch up on these trends and this article is a great introduction. Remember too, that like all pelinks4u articles you can even download the explanation onto your computer or mp3 device and simply listen to it at your leisure!

Victor High School "STRIVING FOR THE STARS" - Several years ago NASPE wanted to identify and acknowledge exemplary public school physical education programs. Today, NASPE STARS is a national recognition program and this month pelinks4u is pleased to feature Victor High School from Victor, NY. Learn more about the innovative student-centered curriculum and the respect enjoyed by the school's physical education staff. Incidentally, if you are interested in learning about applying for STARS status here's a helpful link - http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/stars/index.html

Physical Activity and Seizures - Authors Phillip Conatser and Chris Ledingham write that about 2.5 million people have seizure disorders in the United States. For individuals with disabilities the prevalence of seizures is even higher. The consequences of seizures can be life threatening when combined with physical activity. It's essential for all of us to have an action plan and in this article the authors explain the different types of seizures we are likely to face together with recommended coping strategies.

Childhood Obesity: Meeting the School Wellness Policy Goals - This month we are featuring a powerpoint presentation accompanied by a podcast from Renae Buss. The creator and publisher of the bSafebFit program (http://www.bsafebfit.com/index.html), Renae shares a presentation she made at the recent national AAHPERD convention on the way in which her school has worked to implement the federally required wellness policy. If you are involved in school wellness you'll enjoy seeing and hearing about the steps Renae and her school colleagues have taken.

Primal Confusion - Creator of the Exuberant Animal vision, Frank Forencich, once again shares his unique vision of the consequences of movement deficient lifestyles. He points out that despite being both deaf and blind, Helen Keller became an outstanding author, political activist and lecturer. Frank compares the loss of these special senses with the loss of proprioception - the sense of body position and motion. Our modern society, he argues, acts to deprive us of essential sensory experiences and is responsible for a variety of physical, intellectual, and emotional problems. The solution? Get outside and move!

Year End Reflections: Elementary Physical Education and the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans - At the 2009 AAHPERD national convention in Tampa, attendees enjoyed an informative presentation on the development of the new national physical activity guidelines. This month, pelinks4u contributing editor Marybeth Miller, examines the implications of these guidelines for elementary school physical education teachers. Learn more about what you can do to ensure that your students get the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity.

pelinks4u EDITORIAL

SOS: PHYSICAL EDUCATION & SPORTS

Some years ago I interviewed Don Hellison, and in talking about quality public school physical education programs, he commented that “good” programs were unlikely to be cut. Administrators, he reasoned wouldn’t want to cut out programs that were supported by parents, loved by students, and respected for their educational quality.

Don’s comment, made during a time of typical economic conditions, came to mind a week ago when I received a note from Linda Ferris, a physical education teacher from Oregon. Linda was responding to my request for information about what schools were doing to celebrate National Physical Education and Sport Month. At Fairview Elementary School the staff organized two special athletic events: An Aqua Fina Pitch Hit Run event for kids 7-14, and a Junior Olympics event for ages 8-13. These followed an earlier-in-the-week “Physical Education Showcase” at the high school in which students displayed skills they’d learned in classes.

Sadly, Linda concluded her letter informing me that the Fairview school district was cutting its Elementary Physical Education Program, and significantly reducing its athletic programs due to the economic crisis. In 2008, the high school athletic program already took a $100,000 cut. In response, Linda reported that a rally was planned to show support for a request to Oregon legislators to establish stable funding for schools and avoid cuts to Physical Education, Athletics, Music, and Library programs. A special song created by teachers asking legislators to use the state’s Rainy Day funds can be viewed on YouTube. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeyfpRfgCic

On May 7th I had the pleasure of joining with more than 50 physical educators and physical education advocates from around the country for the first ever NASPE Lobby Day in Washington DC. Its purpose was clear: To meet with key federal legislators and request their support for three specific pieces of legislation that would positively impact school physical education. I’ll briefly describe each below, because in the current economic climate it’s vital for all physical educators to become active advocates for our programs.

FIT Kids Act (Fitness Integrated with Teaching Kids Act)
Educational reform that swept the country over the past 8 years, better known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), was part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). ESEA is about to be reauthorized, and with it our profession has the opportunity to change the expectations for school physical education. NCLB was the phrase coined by the last administration and it’s unlikely to be used in the future. But regardless of language, it’s vital for us to ensure that physical education is not left behind in future legislation. The FIT Kids Act aims to ensure that quality physical education programs are supported. Versions of the act have been introduced in both the House and Senate, and NASPE Lobby Day participants were successful in getting more legislators to sign on as bill cosponsors.

Carol M. White Physical Education for Progress Program (PEP) Grants
As you know, every state in the nation has benefited from the allocation of PEP grants since their inception in 2001. The good news is that the current administration requested funding for new PEP grants in the proposed budget (the previous administration routinely removed the request only to have it reinserted by Congress). But unfortunately, only about 1 in 10 PEP grant requests gets funded. Based on this demonstrated need, legislators are being asked to increase PEP funding to $100 million (from $75 million proposed) for 2010.

Reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act – Local School Wellness Policies
How is your school district wellness policy working? The federal requirement for school districts to create a wellness policy by 2006 was a good first step in ensuring districts attended to the physical activity and nutrition needs of their students. But, inevitably, these policies could now use some revision. Our request is for “physical education” to be included in the policy, and for attention to be directed to ways for improving the implementation, evaluation, and reporting of measures undertaken by districts to meet this policy.

If you are a member of NASPE you’ll likely receive updates on the progress of these legislative acts. If not, we’ll try to keep you informed through pelinks4u. But PLEASE recognize that all of us who work in physical education have a responsibility to do something to advocate for our profession. Far too often we like to complain about our profession “getting no respect.” Although we might not entirely deserve what we get, it’s pretty naïve to expect other people to support us if we do nothing to promote the value of what we do. And there’s much you CAN DO! Here are a few suggestions:

1. Locate the names of your federal legislators and drop them a brief email requesting their support for the three legislative acts I’ve described above. It will only take a few minutes. Imagine the impact if each legislator received just one email from all the physical education teachers in his or her state. Remember, legislators are sensitive to public opinion. If you and your teaching colleagues write, you will have contributed to our national effort. You can find contact information here - http://member.aahperd.org/advocacy/
2. Contact your state legislators and express your concerns for reductions being made or threatened to physical education programs in local schools. While legislators will likely be reluctant to intervene in local district decisions, at the state level they control budget allocations. I’d recommend that you focus on health issues (likely to become a national issue of debate) and the contribution that physical education makes to helping students do well academically.
3. Promote your own programs! Having a great program and working hard isn’t going to do you much good if no one knows about it and supports you. Advocacy has to begin before program cuts are threatened. In the current economic turmoil, even supportive administrators may decide cuts to your programs are necessary. But let’s not make this choice an easy one for them! Involve parents, parent organizations, booster clubs, health care advocates, and similarly influential groups in what you do. Make it clear to administrators and school board members that choices they make that negatively impact physical education and sports are likely to meet strong and passionate public resistance.
4. A step that I’ve taken - that you might like to consider too - is to invite influential officials and legislators to your school. It’s a great photo opportunity for them and invaluable publicity for you. Most importantly, they can see and experience the value of your work and the benefits for young people. Unlike formal meetings you’ll also both have time chat informally and get to develop a personal relationship. You could do this with your school board or federal or state legislators. In the case of legislators, you just need to contact their local offices, deliver the invitation, and show a willingness to work around their schedules.

Finally, pay attention to how your school district plans to use the federal stimulus funds (see helpful links in this month’s News section). Get involved and ask questions. Don’t just leave it to the whims of your administrators to decide how to use this funding. Be a squeaky wheel or be prepared to accept the consequences of your silence. We face tough times and it’s likely to get worse. pelinks4u wishes Oregon physical educators the very best in their efforts to avoid program cuts. For the rest of us, doing nothing cannot be an option if we are to save our physical education and sport programs.

Steve Jefferies, Publisher
pelinks4u