Seriously-- gym

Parent Cafe
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<p>"If I was in your school district I would be one really peeved parent becasue the administration is not doing you any favors."</p>

<p>sybbie719, if you mean running kids into the ground by making it difficult even to get lunch, let alone review for an AP test because it's time for a flute lesson instead, I quite agree! I feel that schools and teachers should employ a reasonable standard in allowing students leeway to prioritize. PE is a requirement, so logically it should come first when a conflict arises, but I don't blame students for thinking, "Hey, it's just gym."</p>

<p>My kids and I have been through some bizarre stuff trying to satisfy conflicting demands in our hs. Once I had to drive 45 minutes to pick my d up at a field trip for her science class in order to return her to school in time for a choir concert. I'd asked the choir director how she could make up for missing the concert, since the school-sanctioned field trip would prevent her from attending, and he said, "She can't." Missing a concert equals an "F" test grade in choir class, and you have to take choir class in order to participate in any choral ECs. Fortunately, the science teacher was willing to dismiss my d early from the field trip.</p>

<p>Even worse was the time my d had a daylong field trip for Latin class at a local college. The bus left half an hour before school started, so d didn't have time to leave her math homework in the math teacher's mailbox. She was returned to school about 5 minutes before dismissal, and the math teacher refused to accept her homework on the grounds that it was "late," even though the bell hadn't rung yet. Zero for the day. Couldn't get to school even earlier that morning? Too bad.</p>

<p>You know, crud like that. High school life would be less stressful if only the teachers could play nicely together.</p>

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<p>We have gym every day of the week, all year, every year (sophomores have a semester of Health and a semester of gym). It's a state requirement. We do get excused for about 6 weeks when we have sports though, but the season is much longer than that...
Haha my school is so conceited that it isn't even called gym...it's KINETIC WELLNESS!</p>

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<p>if I had stayed in Stuyvesant, 1) it'd probably be a lot easier for me to get into college now and 2) i wouldn't have a gym problem because i wouldn't be in choir, i wouldn't be going to the largely ineffective guidance counselors, and i wouldn't be missing so much school because of how demanding stuyvesant's work ethic is, sick or not. </p>

<p>plus stuy's policy is totally different.</p>

<p>sybbie-- the PE requirement is what scares me most about Dmouth. I love everything else about the school except that, i mean-- wow.</p>

<p>mesaboogie-- the gym teachers freak out if we call it gym. political correctness at work.</p>

<p>i agree i should make the classes up if I can, but it's not so easy, especially if the teacher doesn't work the periods that I am off (and starting Monday, I have no classes off)</p>

<p>Schools are imposing too strict policies on students, I think. There's hardly any allowances for sick or mental health days, which sometimes kids just <em>need</em>.</p>

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<p>no lunch?
My daughters high school is irritated cause they have had an hour lunch till this semester when it was cut to 40 min. ( now they have to RUN off campus to get their lunch- unless they want to stand in line at Ezells which Oprah made famous ;) )
Lunch is when clubs often meet, how can they cut lunch?</p>

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<p>Don't worry about the PE requirement, because they have many things that you may enjoy doing or you can fill it being on teams. You can ski, ice skate , play soccer, horse back ride. Filling the PE requirement is going to be easier than you think, but since it is once a week over a 10 week period, if you blow it off, you won't get credit.</p>

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<p>emeraldkity, at our hs clubs often meet during homeroom (there's a yearbook homeroom, a newspaper homeroom, NHS homeroom, etc.). Otherwise, they meet for an hour after school officially ends and before sports practices begin.</p>

<p>Kids CAN have a lunch period, but only if they schedule one when they sign up for classes each year. Many kids feel the pressure to take the fabled "most rigorous curriculum" and so won't schedule a lunch. (And if they do, it can wind up being at 9:30 AM.) Kids DO eat, however. Mine have always brought bag lunches, but some actually stop at the cafeteria between classes and bring a tray to class. Individual teachers have the right to refuse to allow eating in class, but few do.</p>

<p>Running out for lunch hasn't been permitted for several years. There was a tragedy two towns over earlier this year, when 4 students who left school for lunch with school permission were involved in an awful accident, speeding to get back on time. Three 16- and 17-year-old girls were killed, and the boy who drove them was terribly injured and now faces criminal charges. I believe this district has suspended the privilege to leave campus during the day.</p>

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<p>Our hs kids would be doing a happy dance if they had 40 minutes for lunch. They have 25. One period of the day is actually a "long period". It is divided into thirds, each being 25 minutes. There are three waves of lunch...beginning, middle and end of long period. </p>

<p>Also...just my humble opinion of the PE part of this thread. It was and is NO SECRET what the requirements are for getting a grade in PE. If it's attendance, than in my opinion students should adhere to those guidelines and get the grade. Whining after the fact that they didn't get the grade because of attendance (when they KNEW that was the requirement) does no good.</p>

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<p>we don't have clubs usually meet after school cause kids may need transportation or they play on teams ( like their girls basketball team who, just beat Piedmont the top rated team in the country . Go Bulldogs! ) :)
For PE credits though you must have 90 hours in same activity within the semester. My daughter played on a rec leaque soccer team that only met 2X week for practice with games on weekend, that wasn't enough to get credit, so she is planning on joining the track team for spring sports. The school teams have practice everyday.
I don't think they really have homeroom- that is just your first period class.
I think only the kids who have to eat in cafeteria do so. Lunches in our district are nasty, they are all made in a central location and sent to schools. My daughter brings her lunch half the time, and buys it half the time, but if her school is like where I went to school, there isn't room for everyone in cafeteria at same time, and even if there was,by the time you would be able to buy anything lunch would be over. ( all 1700 students have lunch at same time, to make scheduling easier and so that clubs aren't dependent on what lunch someone has.- kids generally walk to lunch- although if they have a car they move it- cause they can't park in the same place for more than 2 hours- no student parking lot)
THe lunch was an hour because they had advisory (tutoring- special classes) during lunch- as well as having the time available for their almost 50 clubs and student groups to meet. However, because they did not take roll to report to office, it can't count as class time as required by state. Otherwise it does seem like a long time, my H who often works 10 -12 hour days only gets 30 min for lunch.</p>

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<p>I would guess that the teachers at the school also get only 30 minutes of lunch. That is the state law here....30 minutes of duty free lunch (no responsibilities during lunch) daily.</p>

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<p>lol, I'm not whining. According to their ridiculous policy, I deserve the grade I got. I was just wondering about how it would affect an admission decision.</p>

<p>sybbie-- horseback riding is a passion of mine! you definitely psyched me up with that! :)</p>

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<p>If you go to Dartmouth, I'll be chasing you down to make sure you go to gym:) :)</p>