New state law has students (and teachers) hoppin’

BY HANNAH SAMPSON

The fifth-graders at Colbert Elementary School had just finished their first physical education class of the school year on Wednesday — games of tic-tac-toe in which they were the X’s and O’s.”I’d like to do two hours of P.E. every day,” proclaimed Kayona Bailey, 10, who attends the Hollywood year-round school.

While that wish isn’t likely to come true, elementary schools all over Florida — who already have their days full preparing kids for standardized tests — are now scrambling to meet a new state law that requires 150 minutes of physical education every week.

That means recess will be transformed, with planned activities to keep kids moving, and schools will have to find time in their days to study nutrition or fitness or take part in exercises shown over TVs.

State legislators passed the law in an effort to combat an obesity crisis among today’s youth; statistics show that the percentage of overweight kids between ages 6 and 19 has more than tripled since 1980.

Read the complete article in the Miami Herald