Physical Education
Chatted with Lynnaea’s P.E. teacher when we dropped by the kids school during lunch on Monday. Spent a few minutes just hanging out on the playground, watching the kids run through exercises, and then attempt to play volleyball.
It took me a while to figure out that this was what they were doing, primarily because I couldn’t see any net… I eventually figured out that the “net” was actually a pair of bungee cords that the P.E. teacher had stretched out between the two basketball backboards!!! After the kids were done playing, I walked up to the P.E. teacher and said, “I hope that you’re not using those bungee courts because of budget issues.”
He laughed, and said, “Budget?!? I haven’t had a budget since my first year here.” He also mentioned that bungee cords take up less time than unrolling and rolling up a volleyball net (another budget related issue).
Can you say, “argh”?
Apparently, there are 2.5 P.E. specialists for the entire district. And they’re all about to be fired due to budget cuts. Sigh. Fourth and fifth grade teachers get “release time” for P.E., but lacking training and motivation, the legally required P.E. either consists of running around on the playground equipment, or actually gets skipped.
The P.E. teacher mentioned that he makes up for the lack of money by being “resourceful”… this apparently includes scrounging for used tennis balls in the back of the Salinas tennis court. Argh. Parents and chairities (such as children in other/richer districts) occasionally provide funding, but that’s it.
