Jenna

A Period Sanderson

Current Event Posting #2

March 5th, 2012

Topic: S.F. elementary schools falling short on exercise (Education)

Published by: SFGate

Date Published: Feburary 23, 2012

Original Artical Author: Emma Anderson

P.E. Teachers WANTED

According to a UCSF study, there is only 19 PE teachers in the whole San Francisco district. Because of budget cuts and higher taxes, P.E. teachers are down on the priority list of importance for the district. California mandates 20 minutes a day of physical exercise for each elementary kid, about 200 minutes for 10 days. Only one-fifth of the district qualified for that mandate. For middle schoolers, it should be 40 minutes a day. Because of problems with schools or schedule changes, schools in San Francisco only managed 114 minutes for ten days, 86 minutes short of the 200 minutes mandated.

Elementary schools in San Francisco don't have blocked out periods for PE because of the push for good test scores. This falls into the category that two-thirds of kids do not fall into the healthy fitness range when tested, and could rise if there isn't any hiring of teachers in the San Francisco district.