PE waiver rules finalized

For a number of years, there has been confusion about exemptions from Physical Education at Albany High. On December 10, 2007, Principal Ted Barone submitted a new proposal to the superintendent of schools intended to establish firm guidelines on the PE program and on the exemption policy. The proposal was finalized at the Instructional Improvement Committee’s January meeting and forwarded to the School Board for final approval. However, the decisions are already AHS policy.The recommendations affirm that PE is a two-year requirement at AHS, with most students completing PE-1 in 9th grade and PE-2 the following year. Though state law requires four years of PE, many California high schools exempt 11th and 12th graders from the requirements. Under the new AHS policy, exemptions are only available for PE-2, and only for students on Albany High’s sports teams. Athletes can be exempted from PE-2 after completing four seasons of AHS sports.
Many students may be disappointed to hear that no exemptions will be made for elite athletes in programs outside Albany High nor will they be made for students in Albany High’s dance classes. State law only allows exemptions for interscholastic athletics or for courses taught by “an appropriately credentialed PE teacher”, criteria that outside sports and current dance classes do not meet.
The new PE policy will take effect for current freshman and sophomores.

5 Responses

1. 9:09 PM on February 6th, 2008Anonymous:

   oh shiz that’s ME!!!

2. 9:14 PM on February 6th, 2008yves:

   Rofl, this crap was a while ago.

3. 9:46 PM on February 10th, 2008bb:

   i hate pe!

4. 6:48 PM on April 6th, 2008Anonymous Athlete:

   I find that these rules are extremely unfair especially to people like me who play on a competitive, state-ranked team year-round, with the exception of High School season. I play at least 12 hours a week with my team, 11 months of the year (not including time spent training on my own) and yet I am forced to do 4 seasons of extremely easy and stupid Albany High School sports, that are nothing compared to my club team. Why do people from schools like Berkeley get out of P.E. for ridiculous sports, while real athletes at AHS have to endure the stupidity and stubbornness of our administration, who very likely no nothing of real sports? Has anyone noticed that the only people that these rules only affect people who deserve to get out of P.E.? The people who need P.E. are the people who DON’T play sports, not the people who play sports that are harder and much more intense than AHS sports. These rules need to be changed.

5. 9:16 AM on May 12th, 2008RR:

   State law requires only two years of PE, not four. Exemptions are allowed at the discretion of the Superintendent (e.g., the Superintendent can allow exemption for a dance class, whether or not it is taught by a credentialed PE teacher). The state education code is clear, and can be viewed on the web.

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