With childhood obesity numbers on the rise, you might think that schools are doing everything they can to help their students meet their daily exercise needs. Not so in 32 states. According to National Association for Sport and Physical Education spokeswoman Paula Kun, the numbers of states who allow students an exemption from P.E. class has been on the rise since 2006.

Students who are enrolled in marching band, cheerleading, and interscholastic sports are often allowed to use an exemption to avoid P.E. class. There are also exemptions allowed for disability or religious reasons.

“Unfortunately, so many schools are having more and more waivers — particularly at the high school level,” Kun says. “The great majority of high school students are required to take physical education only one year out of the four. They get out for religious reasons, for ROTC, for marching band. There’s a whole slew of waiver possibilities.”

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Students no longer need fret over being the last one chosen for team games in gym class. In D.C. area public schools, physical education is shifting its focus to individual fitness and personal health and away from team games. “The trend is to move away from competitiveness,” explains P.E. teacher Donald Hawkins.

Browne Education Campus has adopted the SPARK program, which stands for Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids. The program is specifically designed to fight childhood obesity. The new curriculum features age-appropriate fitness activities that keep kids active for the full class period. Not only are the activities designed to get kids moving more than traditional gym class, they also incorporate lessons about health and the body.
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Have you been watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution or reading the Mystery School Lunch blog? Are you wondering if changing the menu at your kids school is too difficult to even try. Do you feel like there’s no hope?

One city in America has made drastic changes in the menu plan for the next school year, which begins July 1. The  documents originally released to the Chicago Tribune show that nacho service will be reduced to once a week in Chicago high schools, and once a month in elementary schools; sweet packaged desserts will also be reduced to weekly treats; and donuts and Pop-Tarts will be eliminated in the new school year.

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Remember the days when gym class meant simply running around or playing in groups whether it be a round of basketball, dodge ball, wiffle ball or even baseball? Most kids live for these outlets to give them a break from math or history class and kids just like to move and be active. With all that said I was really surprised when I learned that two Texas schools were going to start instituting the Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit to promote health and physical activity.

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to try the Wii Fit, you can read our Wii Fit review along with a follow-up article on the reality of the Wii Fit, once we all made it past the initial hype.

The idea of having the Wii Fit at home in your living room to encourage kids to get off the couch and be more active and engaged is great. On the other hand, using this system at school can actually inhibit the amount of exercise students would otherwise normally get due to the physical activity associated with the Wii Fit being somewhat limited. Students don’t need the Wii to learn how to do a push-up or sit-up the good old-fashioned way; kids running and jumping and interacting together and not with a machine is best.
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Where there are fast-food restaurants, you will likely find obese people. And that’s just as true for kids who have them close to their schools. If logic isn’t enough, a study has confirmed it.

A new report has found there to be an increased obesity rate of at least 5.2 percent among teenagers at schools where fast-food outlets were a tenth of a mile or less away. That’s only about one city block, so it’s believable that the kids would partake in a little take-out.

Eric N. Gioia, a city councilman from Queens, New York. wants to stop fast-food restaurants from opening so close to the city’s schools.
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