NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Schools seek delay in Oregon’s P.E. requirement
Lack of facilities,
teachers hamper
districts’ progress
way to continue to move forward.”
Courtney said he is unwilling 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 lobby-
ists representing schools and health
groups Aug. 11 to discuss concerns
about the law.
Schools’ concerns about the
requirement center on three issues:
The cost of hiring additional P.E.
teachers and building new space and
the limited amount of instructional
time, Green said. Schools faced
funding rollbacks during the Great
Recession and subsequent funding
increases have not been enough to
keep up with expenses, Green said.
The Pendleton School District
recently built two elementary
schools that replaced schools that
used the same space for the cafeteria
and gymnasium.
School administrators had to use
creative scheduling, including lunch
periods staggered by grade level, to
accommodate 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 addi-
tional P.E. classes, said Ronda Smith,
a Pendleton principal who used to
work at Washington Elementary
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.
If schools have to provide more
physical education instruction, other
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — With less than 10
percent of Oregon’s K-8 schools
providing the minimum number of
weekly physical education minutes
mandated by the Legislature nine
years ago, districts want lawmakers
to extend the fall 2017 compliance
deadline.
Rather than inching towards
meeting the requirement, the number
of compliant schools has actually
declined, according to public records
reviewed by the Pamplin Media
Group/EO Media Group Capital
Bureau.
House Bill 3141, approved by
state lawmakers in 2007, made
Oregon the irst state in the nation to
require minimum physical education
instructional minutes for elementary
and middle school pupils, according
to the American Heart Association.
The law calls for a minimum of
150 minutes of physical education
instruction per week for grades K-5
and 225 minutes for grades 6-8.
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 standard
E.J. Harris/EO Media Group
A pristine gym in the newly inished Washington Elementary
School in Pendleton. The new building provides the district with
a facility making it easier to comply with the state’s physical
education mandate.
to account for professional develop-
ment days and inclement weather,
and to add more lexibility in how
physical education may be deined.
“Everybody recognizes the pinch
we ind ourselves in,” said Jim Green,
deputy executive director of the
Oregon School Boards Association.
“There are not enough P.E. teachers.
Some of the facilities 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 number of weekly minutes
outlined in HB 3141, according to the
Oregon Department of Education’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, championed the law in
2007 as a way to address childhood
obesity and boost pupils’ academic
skills. Along with the minimum
instructional time, the bill offered
schools special grants, known as
PEEK-8, or Physical Education
Expansion K-8, to help hire P.E.
teachers or give existing teachers
professional 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 education had disap-
peared from our schools,” Courtney
said. “I understand resources are an
issue, and every school is different. I
just hope that together we can ind a
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 Superin-
tendent Andy Kovach. “You add up
the hours they’re expecting of us, and
where do you cut it out?”
Christina Bodamer, an Oregon-
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 ive years and have
nothing else happen,” Bodamer said.
Several bodies of research
suggest that physical activity can
hone academic skills such as concen-
tration, and even enhance overall
academic performance, according
to a review of research in 2010 by
the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
That research has given
momentum to the idea of requiring
minimum instructional time in
physical education, she said. Wash-
ington, D.C., has a policy similar
to Oregon’s, and Washington and
California are considering following
suit, Bodamer said.
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.
Pot plants at state fair a irst for the U.S.
were no complaints — a key
factor in allowing them to go
one step further and offer live
plants for viewing this year,
said Dan Cox, spokesman for
the Oregon State Fair.
The specimens were
selected by judges at a compe-
tition last weekend who chose
three winners each in the sativa,
indica and hybrid categories.
The entire exhibit will be
housed in a translucent tent
and extra security will be on
hand to check identiication so
only people 21 and over can
enter, Cox said.
None of the plants are
allowed have buds, which are
more potent than the leaves.
That’s because the Oregon
SALEM (AP) — Nine
living marijuana plants will be
displayed at the Oregon State
Fair in a irst of its kind event
for the United States starting
next Friday.
The exhibit of the non-low-
ering, immature plants brings
pot cultivation more into the
agricultural mainstream less
than two years after Oregon
voters legalized recreational
marijuana. The Oregon
Cannabis Business Council,
which organized the exhibit,
says it’s the irst time live
cannabis will be shown at a
state fair anywhere in the U.S.
The group last year had
an informational booth about
marijuana at the fair and there
Liquor Control Commission,
which will regulate the recre-
ational marijuana business, is
still inalizing regulations for
the nascent industry and it’s
currently illegal to transport a
lowering plant, said Donald
Morse, director of the Oregon
Cannabis Business Council.
Those regulations and a
licensing process for recre-
ational producers are expected
by 2017. The industry hopes
to have plants with buds at the
fair next summer, Morse said.
The event has raised some
eyebrows, but Cox said the
Oregon State Fair has always
played a role in displaying the
latest and sometimes contro-
versial fads in agriculture and
state culture. Nearly 20 years
ago, he said, the fair had an
exhibit on tattoo body art that
caused a similar sensation.
“It is a showcase for
traditional things. And yet it’s
always been a show place for
the new, the different and the
innovative,” he said.
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REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
SUNDAY
TODAY
MONDAY
Sunny and very
warm
Sunshine and very
hot
95° 64°
97° 60°
TUESDAY
Sunny and cooler
but pleasant
Sunny and
beautiful
Mostly sunny and
nice
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
83° 50°
82° 51°
88° 52°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
98° 60°
98° 62°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
86°
87°
109° (1897)
57°
57°
37° (1916)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
0.07"
0.26"
7.39"
5.00"
8.25"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
Yesterday
Normals
Records
HIGH
LOW
90°
87°
106° (1967)
67°
57°
42° (1973)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
0.05"
0.12"
4.99"
3.25"
6.07"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Last
New
First
6:02 a.m.
7:54 p.m.
9:18 p.m.
8:42 a.m.
Full
Sep 1
Sep 9
Sep 16
Aug 24
88° 48°
92° 49°
Seattle
94/59
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
87° 48°
Today
WEDNESDAY
Spokane
Wenatchee
91/62
97/65
Tacoma
Moses
95/54
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 96/57
89/50
80/54
97/51
99/59
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
95/56
96/66 Lewiston
97/57
Astoria
96/61
73/57
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
101/62
Pendleton 90/52
The Dalles 98/60
95/64
101/62
La Grande
Salem
92/46
101/56
Albany
Corvallis 99/55
99/53
John Day
96/62
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
92/54
100/52
93/55
Caldwell
Burns
92/52
93/47
Astoria
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Burns
Enterprise
Eugene
Heppner
Hermiston
John Day
Klamath Falls
La Grande
Meacham
Medford
Newport
North Bend
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Redmond
Salem
Spokane
Ukiah
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Yakima
Hi
73
89
93
67
93
90
100
93
98
96
95
92
89
107
62
65
92
96
95
101
95
101
91
91
100
96
99
Lo
57
40
55
52
47
52
52
55
60
62
48
46
47
64
51
52
54
56
64
62
48
56
62
45
61
66
59
W
s
s
s
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
Hi
69
93
91
66
94
92
89
95
98
99
92
96
91
103
60
64
96
100
97
85
95
89
91
91
84
97
98
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
Lo
72
82
70
58
56
59
57
67
78
47
78
W
pc
t
s
c
t
sh
pc
s
c
pc
t
Lo
56
46
47
50
48
50
49
55
62
61
48
53
50
60
49
52
59
57
60
57
45
54
58
44
55
64
55
W
pc
s
s
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
pc
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
Lo
74
80
70
61
55
60
57
66
77
49
80
W
s
t
s
c
t
pc
pc
s
pc
s
t
WINDS
Medford
107/64
(in mph)
Klamath Falls
95/48
Boardman
Pendleton
REGIONAL FORECAST
Coastal Oregon: Low clouds and fog, then
sunshine today; mostly sunny and cooler
across the north.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Hot today
with plenty of sunshine. Mainly clear
tonight. Very hot tomorrow.
Western Washington: Plenty of sunshine
today; patchy fog at the coast during the
morning.
Eastern Washington: Plenty of sunshine
today. Clear tonight. Plenty of sunshine
tomorrow.
Cascades: Plenty of sunshine today;
very warm. Mainly clear tonight. Sunny
tomorrow.
Northern California: Clouds, then sun at
the coast today; hot in central parts. Mostly
sunny elsewhere.
Today
Sunday
SSW 3-6
NNW 4-8
WSW 8-16
W 8-16
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
1
4
6
6
4
COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Production Manager: Mike Jensen
541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
Sun.
Hi
93
89
88
73
73
76
71
83
91
68
88
NEWS
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fax 541-276-8314 • email news@eastoregonian.com
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editor@eastoregonian.com.
• To submit sports or outdoors information or tips:
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NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Sun.
WORLD CITIES
Hi
89
90
88
70
73
75
76
84
94
65
84
Classiied & Legal Advertising
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Advertising Director: Jennine Perkinson
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Advertising Services: Laura Jensen
541-966-0806 • ljensen@eastoregonian.com
Multimedia Consultants:
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Subscriber services:
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— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus
In this Aug. 13 photo, Ed Rosenthal, nicknamed the
“Ganja Guru,” judges marijuana plants at a compe-
tition designed to select nine specimens for display
at the Oregon State Fair. The exhibit of live marijua-
na plants will run from Aug. 26 to Sept. 5 and will be
the irst time real pot plants have been open for public
viewing at the annual agricultural showcase.
1
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m.
0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate 6-7, High;
8-10, Very High;
11+, Extreme
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num-
ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2016
-10s
-0s
showers t-storms
0s
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
40s
snow
ice
50s
60s
cold front
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
National Summary: Showers and locally heavy storms will extend from the Great Lakes to
the Gulf Coast today. Much cooler air will invade the Plains, while warmth and humidity
build in the East and heat holds in the West.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 108° in Imperial, Calif.
Low 33° in Leadville, Colo.
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Atlantic City
Baltimore
Billings
Birmingham
Boise
Boston
Charleston, SC
Charleston, WV
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Fargo
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Hi
83
87
85
90
79
85
92
80
93
85
78
88
81
77
86
94
59
69
86
92
80
97
76
103
85
82
Lo
61
74
74
72
53
74
63
67
78
71
60
69
70
52
64
69
51
47
76
74
62
73
55
82
71
63
W
t
t
pc
pc
s
t
s
s
t
pc
t
pc
t
s
t
t
c
pc
sh
t
t
t
t
s
t
pc
Sun.
Hi
84
87
84
86
89
84
95
81
96
80
74
78
83
87
77
88
66
75
86
89
75
97
80
98
85
82
Lo
60
69
70
65
58
69
63
70
76
60
56
63
71
57
58
68
51
58
75
74
57
74
59
79
66
63
Today
W
t
t
pc
t
s
t
s
pc
t
t
pc
pc
t
t
pc
t
c
pc
pc
t
pc
pc
s
s
pc
pc
Hi
Louisville
83
Memphis
84
Miami
92
Milwaukee
80
Minneapolis
67
Nashville
83
New Orleans
91
New York City
86
Oklahoma City
82
Omaha
75
Philadelphia
90
Phoenix
103
Portland, ME
79
Providence
82
Raleigh
88
Rapid City
70
Reno
97
Sacramento
91
St. Louis
82
Salt Lake City
90
San Diego
78
San Francisco
73
Seattle
94
Tucson
96
Washington, DC 93
Wichita
77
Lo
68
73
78
61
55
71
78
75
60
54
74
81
61
67
74
46
63
60
63
64
67
58
59
73
75
57
W
t
t
pc
t
sh
t
t
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
s
t
pc
s
s
t
s
pc
pc
s
t
pc
pc
Sun.
Hi
80
85
92
75
71
83
90
84
85
79
88
102
78
81
91
81
93
90
81
95
79
71
78
95
90
84
Lo
62
68
76
58
59
61
77
68
61
62
68
81
64
69
68
54
63
60
63
70
67
57
55
74
70
60
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
W
pc
pc
t
sh
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
t
pc
pc
pc
t
s
s
s
s
s
pc
pc
s
t
t
s