A Review of P.E. at Grace
With the imminent addition of the 4th-floor gym here at the 46 campus, P.E. is inevitably undergoing changes and evolving to accommodate our new space. I wanted to look at P.E. here at Grace from an administrative perspective. I sat down with Ms. Armijos, our Director of Athletics and head of high school P.E., to look at the P.E. system, learn what we can expect with the arrival of the new gym, and get her thoughts.
What went into the makeup of the P.E. system here?
“When we first started, the P.E. system was basically already set with Health and Racquet, I basically came in and continued it.”
At the beginning of the High School students were only able to take P.E. classes at H&R, opposed to the wide range students have access to now.
Would it be totally different without Health and Racquet?
“Without Health and Racquet, we wouldn’t have as much flexibility to offer such variety of classes. Which is awesome that we have Health and Racquet, if we didn’t we’d stick to more traditional classes.”
How will the P.E. system change once the gym at 46 is totally functional?
“Students will have more access to different types of P.E. classes, and sports units. So instead of having P.E. three times a week students will have it four times a week. It gets to be more student-oriented, so if a student wants to a flag football unit or a fútsol unit. I know there are some soccer kids who really want fútsol, so say in the spring we’ll be able to offer that as a P.E. credit class.”
The two ways that New York State can boss around independent schools are attendance and P.E., which are both graduation requirements. P.E. attendance has become a recurring issue, despite, it being non-negotiable. This year students are allowed 4 skips per season and are required to take three P.E. classes per week to fulfill their graduation requirement.
Do you think there is any way to improve the P.E. system? So that maybe there aren’t as many absences?
“I think we’ve come a long way since last, now year we actually have kids who are going this year. The infraction system has been amazing, because it holds the kids accountable, and you can see on your conduct page how many you’ve missed… We try to have students not get to high numbers [of infractions], so we try to deal with it right away, and get help with the parents and deans… One of the ways we’re trying to make kids not wanna skip class is by having the only makeup time be after school on Fridays. That’s a very popular time for kids to go do fun things and who would want to have a makeup class on a Friday. So that’s gonna give you the incentive to go to class.”
What do you say to students who would say: “P.E. takes away valuable time, say to do work in the morning, or whatever it is you need to do that day.”?
“I think that students like the 9 am start time because it lets you sleep in. Most schools start their day at 8, so if you think the morning is being taken away, then you have the afternoon free. I think if we said 7 am that’d be excessive. But I think for the most part students don’t do their work at 8. But the feedback I’m getting from them is that they like the afternoon classes because it lets them sleep in.”
What do you say to students who would say: “It’s sometimes really hard to get credit for outside sports/work out classes, so I wish they’d be a little more lenient with what counts a P.E. credit”
“The outside exercise world is not geared toward students, it’s not for learning about exercise. Also, P.E. credit doesn’t mean X amount of time working out, it’s more the education part of it that you’re getting here. New York State requires you to get a student geared curriculum classes, so you’ll learn about hydration, nutrition, and flexibility, but you won’t get that in outside classes cause it’s geared for adults. So even though that may be a place where you’re working out more, and you’re more than welcome to do that on your own time, what you need to get here is the education part of it. Remember it’s Physical Education, not just the physical.”
If you have any questions or suggestions for your P.E. classes, the new gym, or anything else feel free to find Ms. Armijos in her office or email her at iarmijos@gcschool.org.
PE Classes will remain 3 times a week, not 4.