PRINCETON: School district considers gym class options to help students reduce stress

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Juniors and seniors at Princeton High School likely will have the option of skipping gym class as long as they are participating in a school sport, a move aimed at reducing the stress of what many say are overworked teens.
District officials said last week that they still need to work out details of the expected pilot program, one that other schools around the state make available to their students.
Student athletes who take the so-called “option two” will earn their physical education credits by participating in a varsity or junior varsity sport, the district said this week. For the roughly 45 minutes every day they otherwise would spend in gym, they would have a free period either to study, catch up on homework or meet with a teacher.
“The board is extremely hopeful that it can happen in September,” school board president Andrea Spalla said Tuesday after the board meeting.
Students still would need to take health and driver’s education classes, she said. And they would have to take gym when they are not competing in a sport.
The rationale is to reduce students’ stress and workload. It comes at a time when students at PHS routinely complain they are overworked given all their commitments in and out of the classroom that leave little room for sleep.
“So we’ve had parents who’ve asked for it, we’ve had students who’ve spoken up at board meetings and asked for it,” said Superintendent of Schools Stephen C. Cochrane Tuesday about being able to opt out of gym.
School board member Patrick Sullivan, chairman of the board’s student achievement committee, said in a phone interview Wednesday that officials had taken input from students.
“We’ve been working with the students and listening to the students and what they’ve suggested. And we’re happy to see it finally taking place,” he said.
The district expects to make the option available to 11th and 12-graders, at least initially, because they are the ones taking the most advanced placement courses, have lots of homework and need a free period in the day, officials said.
They still would need to get a grade from their gym teacher, although it was not immediately known how that will be worked out.
“Those are one of those administrative, logistical issues that we have to work through,” Mr. Cochrane said. “There has to be a grade.”
He said in other districts, a gym teacher or administrator will work with the respective coaches to take attendance. In other places, students keep reflection journals on their workouts and their results, with someone having to read the journals, he said.
The district said athletes would not be given automatic A’s.
“Oh my gosh, no,” Ms. Spalla said.
Other unanswered questions at this point include where students will go in the building during their free period and how that will be monitored, the district said.
“I hope the details can be managed to put this into place by September,” Mr. Sullivan said.