A Pleasant Valley school board member is concerned about reducing physical education classes in the high school.

Steve Borger, Pleasant Valley school board director, said last month that he wasn't in favor of the program of studies going from eight credits to six credits, which cuts down the amount of physical education time of the students."I don't like seeing them cutting down on the time the kids have in phys ed. We're being told that our country is becoming more obese because our kids don't get enough exercise," Borger said. "They're playing more video games and sit around more. We're supposed to be promoting a more healthy lifestyle and I just don't want to see the kids lose any fitness time."According to an ABC News report by Geraldine Sealey, gym classes are being sacrificed across the country to save money and satisfy federal mandates stressing test scores in math and reading.Illinois is the only state to require daily gym classes for all class levels.Kenneth Newman, assistant to the superintendent, curriculum/staff development, explained that the Pleasant Valley High School's program of studies underwent a change for the 2013-2014 school year. It went from the block schedule where the classes were semester courses of a two-semester school year. Since the 1990s, the district had four periods a day with each class 84 minutes long.Graduation requirementsStudents could earn eight credits a year four in the first semester and four in the second semester. Students had the opportunity to earn up to 32 credits by graduation. The district's requirement was 28 credits."Our credit requirements for students to be eligible for high school graduation, are the minimum for all students to demonstrate that they have met the standards established by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and approved by the School Board. Students can and many do take more than the minimum required credits," Newman said.To graduate in 2014, a student will need a minimum of 25.5 credits. In 2015, it will be 22.75, 2016 and 2017 it will be 21.5.The program of study for 2013-2014 has gone from eight credits a year to six credits a year. The big difference is, now there are six periods in the day, each period is 56 minutes long and the students have the same core classes all year long. Instead of two semesters of 90 days each, there are now quarters with 45 days in each. Every student has gym one quarter of the year.More time for core subjectsNewman says this schedule gives more time for core classes such as math, science and English.Tresa Malligo, PVHS's assistant principal sees this as a plus for these core subjects."Before, if you had English, you had it for 90 days at 84 minutes. Now you have English 180 days at 56 minutes," she said.Does this change mean students are getting less time in physical education?Less phys edMatt Triolio, physical education department chairman and PVHS dean of students, "Well, yes. It certainly has affected the class. When we had the block schedule, the kids had 10-15 minutes to warm-up, a lot of time for explanation of the day's activity, a lot of time to do the activity and time to cool down. Now they have less time to do each. The best part is they don't get a lot of time to change and that's a good thing. Some of the students say they miss the longer time, some don't. But they still get the necessary time for fitness."Jim Terwilliger, PV's head football coach and teacher of health and physical education for grades 9-12 and elective exercise physiology, thinks PV's gym classes give students a good mix of physical activity."At the beginning of their quarter, we do a diagnostic of the students at the beginning of the course, in the middle and then at the end. There are four components to every quarter of the gym classes, muscular endurance, flexibility, strength and cardio vascular. At the end there is a written exam," Terwilliger said.But that leaves three quarters of no gym class.Newman says the new program was a necessary change but the school now offers more electives."Students can take a physical education elective in two of those remaining three quarters that involve exercise, physiology and fitness components. I'd like to make it more," Terwilliger said. Fifty to 60 students are taking the electives.Malligo thinks PV's gym classes offer more than some other school districts."Some just do baseball, softball, basketball but our gym classes follow a regular curriculum of physical and written components," she says.(Anyone can access the program of studies by visiting the school's web page at

www.pvbears.org, click on "Select a School", select "PV High School", go under "Shortcuts" on the left side of the screen and click on "Program of Studies 2013-2014". )