Report Title:

Education

THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

6

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO CREATE AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL-LEVEL PHYSICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM.

 

 

WHEREAS, elementary school children need and deserve to have all of their abilities -- mental, social, and physical -- nurtured and encouraged while they are young, to build the foundation for a healthy, productive adult life; and

WHEREAS, an emphasis on physical education in elementary school children can help build lifelong health and avoid the health problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and osteoporosis; and

WHEREAS, public schools emphasize intellectual education and socialization, but do not place an equal emphasis on physical education and development of the elementary school child; and

WHEREAS, the lack of training in acquiring a healthy lifestyle also has a negative impact on schoolroom education, as elementary school children who are not able or encouraged to be active during the school day come in from classroom breaks fidgety and unable to focus, causing a slower rate of learning in the classroom environment; and

WHEREAS, public elementary schools offer a limited amount of physical education, but often the physical education teacher is a regular education teacher, not a trained physical education specialist, and has neither the training nor the ability to provide a thorough athletic experience; and

WHEREAS, physical education specialists are only required in secondary schools, not elementary schools; however, they are also needed at the elementary school-level as it is too late to reach children and encourage them to change a sedentary lifestyle at the secondary school-level; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance is an organization committed to expanding and improving elementary physical education under the philosophy that the success of such efforts will have a profound effect on the young people in the public schools; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance firmly believes that the Department of Education can achieve comparable levels of success as that achieved by the Memphis City School Board, which was recently successful in having 5.44 million dollars of new county tax revenues earmarked to hire and train new physical education specialists and purchasing equipment for each elementary school; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education should recognize the synergistic impact that physical education has on performance in the elementary school classroom; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, that the Department of Education is requested to coordinate and consult with the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics in devising an elementary school-level physical education program for the public schools to encourage and stimulate healthy habits for lifelong health; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to evaluate the benefits of placing at least one physical education specialist in each elementary school to support this program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to report its findings, conclusions, and recommendations on an elementary school—level physical education program to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2002; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education, the Board of Education, the Director of Health, the President of the American Medical Association, the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the President of the American Heart Association.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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