The New York State Comptroller says kids in the Baldwinsville Central School District aren’t getting enough physical education instruction, according to an audit made public last week.
The audit, which looked at procedures from the 2016-17 school year, determined that B’ville wasn’t providing enough minutes of physical education instruction to elementary school kids according to New York State Education Department regulations. But, according to BCSD Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Joe DeBarbieri, kids are still getting plenty of physical activity.
“We’ve always created physical opportunities for students,” DeBarbieri said. “Our kids are pretty healthy and pretty active. But since it wasn’t under the instruction of a physical education teacher, it doesn’t count towards the state standard.”
According to the comptroller’s report, none of the 10 districts audited from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017 — Baldwinsville, Binghamton City, Brockport Central, Camden Central, Corning City, East Ramapo Central, Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda Union Free, Plattsburgh City, South Colonie Central or South Huntington Union Free — were in full compliance with state PE requirements.
State regulations call for schools to provide physical education instruction—that is, physical education provided by a certified physical education teacher—for a minimum number of minutes on a minimum number of days per week at each grade level, as follows:
- Grades K-3: 120 minutes 5 days per week
- Grades 4-6: 120 minutes 3 days per week (fifth- and sixth-graders have the option to meet secondary school standards)
- Grades 7-12: Three times per week one week, two times per week the second week or a comparable time if the school is organized in another pattern. Should average 90 minutes per week.
The state minimums are based on a variety of studies cited by the Centers for Disease Control that indicate that physical activity not only prevents obesity and aids students’ physical health and well-being, but improves academic achievement and standardized test scores.
Baldwinsville provided the least, with B’ville averaging just 50 PE minutes per week—58 percent less than the state requires. The BCSD also only provided K-5 students with an average of 1.25 days of PE classes instead of the required five for K-3 and three for grades 4 and 5: elementary students have PE classes once every four school days for 40 minutes. The district told the auditors that it was limited by time constraints and limited staff.
Things look much better at the secondary level, however, where students attend PE classes every other day for 43 minutes per class (grades 6 and 7) and 40 minutes (grades 8 to 12).
The audit also checked to see if districts had an up-to-date PE plan on file with NYSED. Said plans should address, according to the comptroller’s report, “program plans, required instruction, attendance, personnel, facilities and administrative procedures.” Here Baldwinsville again fell short; the last plan it filed was in 2007, and the district wasn’t following that plan at the time of the audit. Administrators also didn’t have a copy of the plan on file at the district office, as required by the state.
DeBarbieri said that now that district officials are better informed about the state standards, they’re taking steps to improve their procedures. The plan adopted at the July 9 board of education meeting and submitted to the state provides for documented attendance during periods of physical education instruction (40 minutes per four-day cycle) and Wellness Activity (30 minutes daily) under the direction of each building’s physical education teacher. All together, the new plan brings the total of PE minutes at the elementary level to 200. To view the full 480-page corrective action plan, visit bville.org/tfiles/folder3446/Baldwinsville%20CSD%20Physical%20Education%20Plan_2018-19.pdf.
DeBarbieri said the audit process was very valuable to district officials, as it not only helped them improve their procedures, but allowed them to learn from other districts.
“The one school district that met the requirement, they couldn’t meet it all in regular physical ed time because it just doesn’t happen that way,” he said. “What their district was doing is their phys ed teachers were creating this mini video lessons that a teacher could just throw up on their smart board or their projector. During a break during the school day, they had the ability to do something physical.”
He said that’s something B’ville could adopt.
“If you think about most of the things that we do, teachers all the time are taking time out [of their lessons],” he said. “Kids need breaks. They need that physical movement. It’s not uncommon that in the course of a 40-minute to an hour lesson, a teacher could be stopping 10 times, which would essentially add up to a-five minute, ten-minute physical activity. That is, technically, as long as it’s been designed, communicated by a physical education teacher, it meets the requirement.”
DeBarbieri said ultimately, if the BCSD could get the staffing for it, administrators would prefer to build those minutes into PE class time.
“There are a few schools where students have an hour of physical education time twice a week,” he said. “Even though we’re good where we’re at now, the ultimate goal would be to have a structure and a schedule built where it could happen right within that time.”
For now, DeBarbieri said the district was glad to have undertaken the audit.
“It was a worthwhile process for us,” he said. “It forced us to really look at what we’re doing.”
