3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2016
Schools seek delay in Oregon’s P.E. requirement
Lack of facilities, teachers
hamper districts’ progress
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — With less than
10 percent of Oregon’s kinder-
garten through eighth-grade
schools providing the mini-
mum number of weekly phys-
ical education minutes man-
dated by the Legislature nine
years ago, districts want law-
makers to extend the fall 2017
compliance deadline.
Rather than inching toward
meeting the requirement, the
number of compliant schools
has actually declined, accord-
ing to public records reviewed
by the EO Media Group/Pam-
plin Media Group Capital
Bureau.
A state law approved in
2007 made Oregon the irst
state in the nation to require
minimum physical education
instructional minutes for ele-
mentary and middle school
pupils, according to the Ameri-
can Heart Association.
The law calls for a mini-
mum of 150 minutes of phys-
ical education instruction per
week for kindergarten through
ifth grade and 225 minutes
for sixth through eighth grade.
Schools are required to meet
that standard by fall 2017.
Most schools are so far
from fulilling the requirement
that their advocacy groups
are now asking lawmakers to
either push back the deadline
or allow for a phase-in. They
also want other tweaks to the
law, such as prorating the stan-
dard to account for profes-
sional development days and
inclement weather, and to add
more lexibility in how physi-
cal education may be deined.
“Everybody recognizes the
pinch we ind ourselves in,”
said Jim Green, deputy exec-
utive director of the Oregon
School Boards Association.
“There are not enough P.E.
teachers. Some of the facili-
ties are inadequate in order to
be able to provide that level of
instruction, and it is going to
take a lot to ramp up to that.”
Out of 1,080 public schools
with some or all grades in K-8,
only 97 schools in 2014-15
provided the minimum num-
ber of weekly minutes out-
lined in the law, according to
the state Department of Edu-
cation’s most recent count.
That’s a decline from the 102
schools in 2013-14 that met the
minimum.
Senate President Peter
Courtney, D-Salem, cham-
pioned the law in 2007 as a
way to address childhood obe-
sity and boost academic skills.
Along with the minimum
instructional time, the bill
offered schools special grants,
known as PEEK-8, or Physi-
cal Education Expansion K-8,
to help hire P.E. teachers or
give existing teachers profes-
sional development in physical
education. The grants provided
about $4 million to schools in
the last four years.
“I started this some 10 years
ago because physical educa-
tion had disappeared from our
schools,” Courtney said. “I
understand resources are an
issue, and every school is dif-
ferent. I just hope that together
we can ind a way to continue
to move forward.”
Courtney said he is unwill-
ing to compromise on the
required number of minutes
but could consider a phased-in
approach to meeting the
standard.
He and his staff met with
lobbyists representing schools
and health groups this month to
discuss concerns about the law.
Three issues
Schools’ concerns about the
requirement center on three
issues: The cost of hiring addi-
tional P.E. teachers and build-
ing new space and the limited
amount of instructional time,
Green said. Schools faced
funding rollbacks during the
Great Recession and subse-
quent funding increases have
not been enough to keep up
with expenses, Green said.
The Pendleton School Dis-
trict recently built two ele-
mentary schools that replaced
Man accused of
stealing meat from
Astoria Safeway
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
A Nevada man is charged
with felony theft after
allegedly stealing a shopping
cart full of meat from Safeway
in Astoria.
Ronald Joe Whitehair
Jr., 54, of Sparks, Nevada,
pleaded not guilty Friday in
Circuit Court to irst-degree
theft, a class C felony. He
appeared in court via video
link from Clatsop County Jail.
Astoria Police arrested
Whitehair at about 11:53 p.m.
Aug. 11.
An employee reported a
theft in progress as Whitehair
allegedly ran out of the gro-
cery store with the shopping
cart full of various meats, val-
ued at more than $1,000.
The shopping cart tipped
over in the parking lot as
Whitehair was attempting to
reach his 35-year-old son in
their motorhome.
Whitehair abandoned the
spilled meat, police said, and
hopped into the motorhome
outside. His son, who is from
Tacoma, Washington, drove
from the scene.
An Astoria Police ofi-
cer was able to see the moto-
rhome and pulled it over near
49th Street.
Whitehair was arrested.
His son was not arrested, and
has not been charged with any
crime.
James von Boeckmann,
Whitehair’s appointed defense
attorney, said Whitehair was in
town visiting family and tem-
porarily working with his son
driving trucks for BioOregon
Protein in Hammond.
According to the District
Attorney’s Ofice, White-
hair has an out-of-state crimi-
nal history of six felony con-
victions, including for assault,
burglary, criminal trespass and
drug pos-
session. The
most recent
conviction
was in 2011.
White-
hair remains
in custody
Ronald Joe
on $15,000
Whitehair Jr.
bail. He is
due back in
court next month for an early
resolution conference.
E.J. Harris/EO Media Group
A pristine gym in the newly finished Washington Elementary School in Pendleton. The new building provides the dis-
trict with a facility making it easier to comply with the state’s physical education mandate.
schools that used the same
space for the cafeteria and
gymnasium.
School administrators had
to use creative scheduling,
including lunch periods stag-
gered by grade level, to accom-
modate lunch and biweekly
physical education classes. The
new schools, Washington and
Sherwood elementary schools,
have separate gymnasiums and
cafeterias, which will make it
easier to schedule additional
P.E. classes, said Ronda Smith,
a Pendleton principal who used
to work at Washington Ele-
mentary School.
But school administrators
said they also struggle to ind
time for the requirement in
Oregon’s limited school year,
one of the shortest in the nation.
Other subjects lose
time
If schools have to pro-
vide more physical education
ive years and have nothing
else happen,” Bodamer said.
Several bodies of research
suggest that physical activ-
ity can hone academic skills
such as concentration, and
even enhance overall academic
performance, according to a
review of research in 2010 by
the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
That research has given
momentum to the idea of requir-
ing minimum instructional time
in physical education, she said.
Washington, D.C., has a policy
similar to Oregon’s, and Wash-
ington state and California are
considering following suit,
Bodamer said.
Creative solutions
Apart from state grants,
several health organizations
also have been dedicating grant
money to help schools come up
with creative solutions to meet
the requirement, she said.
Salem-Keizer and Beaver-
ton schools have been partner-
ing with the American Heart
Association to obtain more
professional development for
P.E. teachers, including how
to incorporate physical activity
within other lessons.
“It is our hope that P.E.
teachers could work with some
of the regular teachers on ideas
for brain breaks and struc-
tured play between lessons,”
said Neil Anderson, director of
instructional services at Salem-
Keizer schools.
Meeting the standard “would
be a challenge, but I think we
could igure it out,” said Smith
of Pendleton schools. “If you
can ind ive minutes six times a
day and say lets put those min-
utes all together in one area you
have another section.”
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Pederson to run for Astoria City Council
Music teacher
is founder of
Columbia River
Symphony
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Cory Pederson, a music
teacher who is the founder and
conductor of the Columbia
River Symphony, is running
for the Astoria City Council.
He will seek the east side
seat being vacated by City
Councilor Russ Warr, who
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instruction, other subjects lose
time, they said. None of those
other subjects have a manda-
tory minimum of instructional
time.
“The larger issue is we have
so many hours in the school
year that we can use, and we
keep having different sets of
expectations put on us,” said
Pendleton schools Superinten-
dent Andy Kovach. “You add
up the hours they’re expecting
of us, and where do you cut it
out?”
Christina Bodamer, an Ore-
gon-based lobbyist with the
American Heart Association,
which pushed for the law in
2007, said she understands the
schools’ dilemma but thinks
the mandate needs to be a
priority.
“Knowing there has been
10 years to implement this,
I think an important part of a
phase-in is accountability, so
we don’t go another three to
chose not to run for re-election
in November after three terms.
Bruce Jones, the former
commander of U.S. Coast
Guard Sector Columbia River, is
also interested in replacing Warr.
Pederson, 37, who lives
with his wife, Angela, and
young daughter in Uppertown,
said Astoria is a “pretty ex-
traordinary city. And part of
the thing is we want to keep it
that way, but also make some
improvements along the way.”
He said he would bring an
“independent perspective to
the table.”
Pederson and his wife
founded the Columbia River
Symphony. He is also the con-
ductor of the North Oregon
Coast Symphony in Cannon
Beach and the Little Ballet The-
ater Orchestra, which is known
for the annual holiday perfor-
mance of “The “Nutcracker.”
Pederson teaches music in
the Jewell School District.
The iling deadline for can-
didates is Aug. 30.
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
Cory Pederson, a music
teacher and conductor, is
running for Astoria City
Council.
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