Schools Give Flabby Excuses On P.E. Law

Florida school districts are coming up with creative ways to dodge the new requirement that elementary school children get 150 minutes of physical education every week.

• Gov. Charlie Crist has been told that some principals want to count the time spent walking to the cafeteria as 'physical education.'

•In Fort Myers, some teachers have interpreted the requirement of 'purposeful physical activity' to include discussions about exercise.

•And in Jupiter, Florida Today reports that a third-grade teacher led a 'brain gym' activity where students traced an imaginary number eight in the air while sitting at their desks.

Feel the burn!

Given the attitude coming from adults, no wonder our kids are fat.

What's disappointing is that schools are using the same excuses given by grown-ups for why they don't exercise: There's not enough time. They don't know how. It's too hot.

Enough.

Schools must get serious about physical activity. One in three Florida school children are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. At this pace the next generation will have a shorter lifespan than its parents.

Hillsborough has made a good first step in implementing the program, though principals and teachers get to decide how much time kids spend moving. An audit at year's end will determine how well schools complied. Until then, concerned parents should ask their children if they are getting time to exercise.

Schools can make exercise fun with something as simple as a good game of tag. Or it can be structured - so long as it happens.

And while schools are getting in shape, listen up Hillsborough County - fatty cheese sticks are not an acceptable lunch entree.

School lunch menus have a long way to go toward promoting a healthy balance of fat, calories and sodium to create a more healthy school environment.

Crist could ask for tighter P.E. rules in the spring legislative session, but he would have to find money for legions of new physical education teachers for districts that ridiculously insist only a certified physical education teacher may lead a class in jumping jacks and push-ups.

Or he could do something fun that sends a message: Make every school official who doesn't comply with the law run laps.

If it works for kids who break the rules, it should get couch-potato principals dressed out for P.E., too.