May 21, 2009
AB 351 remains active
on the Assembly Floor and we must ACT in each of the
80 assembly districts in California.
The advocates in support of AB 351 have
taken to false statements and “drama” to
support why high school students should be exempted
from physical education. See some of their statements
below.
| “Students in California already receive
eight years of physical education before they set
foot into high school. How much more physical education
do our students need?”
“Students were forced to make a choice:
Take PE or lose their high school diploma.“
“JROTC commanders are retired military
personnel who have spent an entire professional
career dedicated to the importance of physical
fitness.” |
Your Action
Steps:
1. Step up to the plate -
Call your Assembly district office and tell them to
vote NO on AB 351.
2. Form your own team - Ask your friends,
family members, neighbors, colleagues to call and request
a NO vote on AB 351.
3. Report your success stories – Each
day send an email or phone message to
the CAHPERD Office and report how many calls your team
placed and which district you contacted.
WE need to log over 10,000
calls to the assembly offices.
If we don’t save physical education
from these false attacks, who
will?
March
9,
2009
Your URGENT ACTION is needed !
Three bills have been introduced into the California
Assembly which propose to allow the substitution of
other courses or activities for courses and graduation
requirements for physical education.
CAHPERD members MUST educate and influence their Assembly
district members on the issues associated with these
bills, and we must do this quickly to be effective.
PLEASE read the information on our
"Current Legislation" page
and TAKE ACTION !
If WE don’t change
the course of these three bills, who will?
Please read the information on the targeted bills
and follow the action steps outlined.
FEBRUARY
5, 2009 - Action Alert #1 of 2
PDF Resources to this Action Alert:
"Physical
Education and Marching Band, JROTC, and other Single
Activities"
"Understanding
the Difference: IS IT PHYSICAL EDUCATION OR PHYSICAL
ACTIVITY?"
What
You Need to Do
Please contact both of the legislators (Assembly
Member and Senator) in your area and request that
they not author, co-author or support legislation
that will allow substitutions for physical education
courses in our schools. Your request should be
informative, educational, conclusive, and be supported
by sound rationale for your request.
Why
In addition to California’s budget crisis and
the threat to funding for physical education, physical
education instructional programs in our schools are
being targeted by advocates for substitute programs
(marching band, JROTC, drill team, athletics, etc.)
who are seeking legislation that will allow these
substitutes to fulfill the current requirements for
physical education.
Legislators have a February 27th deadline for bill
submission, so they are developing language now.
The first example was introduced yesterday in AB
223 (D-Ma) You can find the text of this bill by
clicking
here In addition, you will find a related
article from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking
here.
The sooner we act on this issue the better results
we will have.
In recent years, legislation has been implemented
which requires the California Department of Education
(CDE) to monitor schools compliance with statutes
and regulations related to physical education instruction.
For decades, California law has outlined course content
requirements clearly by stating that all high school
students should receive instruction in each of eight
content areas (Title 5, Section 10060). The California
State Board of Education adopted a statement in 1999
stating that they and the California Department of
Education did not support the granting of physical
education course credits for such courses because
they did not meet the content requirements.
Local school districts have continued to allow students
to substitute these programs for physical education
and receive physical education course credit. Now
the requirements for monitoring will “expose” those
practices and the marching band, JROTC, and other
non-physical education programs are seeing that districts
may no longer permit such practice. In addition,
they are seeking a “home” in the instructional
day, in order to prevent decline in enrollment and
lack of interest in these programs.
Advocates are seeking to amend current education
code through legislation or to add new codes that
will permit the use of substitutions for physical
education. They are looking at 1) Reducing or eliminating
credentialing requirements in substitute areas 2)
Weakening course requirements on what is defined
as physical education, and 3) Encouraging the use
of exemptions beyond the intent of legislation and
education code.
As professionals, it is dependent upon us to inform
and educate the lawmakers of California about quality
physical education so they can deflect the efforts
of others to implement public policy, which permits
substitution for this vital part of our student’s
education. If in your efforts, you actually have
contact with a legislator (more likely one of the
staff members), please me know what their questions
are so we know what they are thinking.
How
- Call their office
- Send an email message to their office
- Fax a message to their office
Find contact information for your representatives
by following these easy steps:
- Go to www.leginfo.ca.gov
- Click on the blue button titled: Your Legislature
- Enter your zip code and you will find links
to each of your legislators’ websites, with
contact information.
Preparing your message:
CAHPERD has documents available that may help you
prepare your message and we will be soon be posting
a sample letter that you can use as a template. [See
box below]
When
Please make sure your message reaches your representatives
by 4:30 p.m. on Monday, February
9th.
Need Help ?
If you have questions about these positions, please
contact me by email at kjohannes1@cox.net or phone
949-496-4345.
Keith Johannes
CAHPERD Legislative Committee Chair
Action
Alert #2
|
