PE Credit Earned through Independent Activities During Closure

Sheila Teker and Sheila Teker|May 5, 2020

With school closure extended to the end of the school year, the PE department has made significant changes to its fitness testing and Athletic PE programs.

Those in their 2nd year of PE with electives Yoga, Weight Training, or Net Sports, have been given online assignments daily. According to several students like sophomores Amelia Graves and Alyssa Craigie, they are given credit through Google Classroom for doing the assigned exercises and logging their activity.

“I’ve been hiking a lot in parks and walking around the neighborhood, [and] my yoga class also makes us do assigned practice at home,” said Graves.

Graves noted that she did not really like having to do yoga at home because she missed the feeling of being in class. She explained, “The yoga feels pretty odd to do alone and it’s fairly painful since I don’t have any carpets.”

The school closure has also affected sophomores and juniors hoping to fulfill their 2nd year of PE through participation in school sports. According to Miramonte High School athletic trainer John Grigsby, who manages the Athletic PE program throughout the district, “Students who have submitted a Contract/Application prior to the 2/28/20 Deadline, and were submitting Weekly Time Cards are enrolled in the Spring Athletic PE Season on Schoolloop. Here, they will find a Google-Form link to continue submitting Weekly Activity Hours until they accumulate the required 70 activity hours.“

According to Principal John Walker, the California state Physical Fitness Testing for freshman has been suspended for the year.

At the Acalanes Union High School District Board Meeting Webinar on March 27, Associate Superintendent Aida Glimme added that PE testing would likely be suspended in future years because Governor Gavin Newsom had suspended the requirement in 2019. As a result, she said that new guidelines would be developed.

As for now, Glimme explained that freshmen who intended to participate in the Athletic PE program in the following year(s) would be allowed to do so. Principal Walker confirmed that “the current plan is to run Athletic PE next year, 2020-2021.”