Thursday, 4:30 PM
Legislators look to take gym class beyond jumping jacks
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
Gym class used to mean a teacher in sweatpants and jumping jacks.
A coalition of youth advocates is pushing legislation on Beacon Hill to change that stereotype. They want to expand gym class to include a "comprehensive" health curriculum that would mandate lessons in nutrition, interpersonal relationships, sexuality, disease, family life, violence prevention, mental health, and more. The bill would make a 14-component health education program part of the state’s core curriculum that already includes math, science, social studies, foreign language, English, and the arts.
"Providing our children with the tools to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle must begin in our schools, before kids are confronted by choices that can negatively affect their health and well-being," state Senator Edward Augustus, a Worcester Democrat, said in a statement.
The bill is one of more than a dozen sex and physical education proposals that will be discussed this afternoon at a legislative hearing.
Another bill would mandate that all elementary, middle, and high schools students exercise for at least 120 hours each school year in gym class or during a physically active recess period. The bill, sponsored by state Representative Peter J. Koutoujian, a Waltham Democrat, would also require 50 hours of lessons a year in nutrition and wellness.
Other bills would post nutritional information on vending machines or require that parents be notified about the content of sex education classes.
The "comprehensive" health education bill would integrate the lessons in curriculum in kindergarten through high school. The bill would establish a framework and allow each school district to develop its own age-appropriate health courses.
Material from State House News Service is included in this report.
