As students put together their schedules for next year, a new factor will play a major role. Decade-old state education mandates will be enforced with the implementation of term-long health and fitness programs.
Physical health education mandates have long been a priority with the Algonquin school board, especially over the last four years. However, due to setbacks in budget and funds being allocated to more pressing matters, the mandate has remained unenforced in recent years.
“Through the budget process, we’ve been asking for more physical and health education teachers in order to comply with the state mandates for providing four years of health and physical education classes,” Principal Tom Mead said. “There have been remarkably low increases in the budget: less than 1 percent, for two years running.”
This year is different, however. The school budget of $20 million for the upcoming year is set to be approved, in what will amount to a 4.99 percent increase from this year. These extra funds, among other priorities, will help to finance the hiring of new physical and health education teachers.
“For the size of school that we have, we [currently] don’t have adequate staffing in our P.E. department to meet this mandate,” Mead explained.
How will this new policy affect Algonquin’s students? If the budget is approved, the program will require students to participate in physical health classes in all four years of high school. This will not go into full swing immediately, however. The class of 2015 will be required to take such a course for only one term out of their senior year, with other specially designed term-long classes set to be developed.
With the class of 2015’s graduation, the class of 2016 will be the first in the school’s history to take semester-long physical health education courses for their entire four-year enrollment.
“These classes potentially stand to be a de-stressor,” Mead said. “They’re aimed at helping emerging young adults to pick up ideas and habits and some familiarity with how to stay happy, both physically and emotionally.”
This mandate, if approved within of next year’s budget, is set to bring up Algonquin to Massachusetts state physical education codes for the first time in years, while seeking to provide students with healthy and engaging courses.
“It’s not about conditioning for a sport, rather, it’s about conditioning for life,” Mead said.