PRESS

Monterey County Herald, The (CA)
February 21, 2005
Section: Top Story
Page: A1

GETTING IN SHAPE

BRANDY UNDERWOOD

Despite less-than-healthy results in physical fitness tests and cuts to schools' PE programs, Monterey County schools are finding ways to help combat childhood obesity.

After restricted budgets resulted in the elimination of PE at elementary schools in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, some schools have stepped up with nutrition or exercise classes, while others offer after-school wellness programs.

At Foothill Elementary in Monterey, second- to sixth-graders meet with a physical education teacher three times a week. The teacher's salary is paid with money saved by the PTA.

The Alisal Union School District in Salinas offers elementary students special nutrition education through its 5 a Day program, paid for with grant money.

It remains to be seen whether such programs will help improve the students' statewide physical fitness test scores. Results from the 2004 tests, given to students in grades five, seven and nine, "indicate an unacceptable percentage of California public school students did not achieve the minimum fitness levels for each of the fitness areas tested," said Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction. "We have a long way to go to eradicate the silent epidemic of childhood obesity and poor nutritional health."

O'Connell made his remarks in November, when results were released. In Monterey County schools, 43 percent of students tested in grade five were found not to be in the "healthy fitness zone." The grade-five figures for MPUSD and Alisal Union Elementary districts were 42 percent and 61 percent, respectively.

While physical education teachers provide gym classes to middle- and high-school students throughout Monterey County, cash-strapped school districts often shift the elementary-level physical education responsibility to classroom teachers. The state requires 200 minutes of physical education every 10 days.

Now, in many cases, it's up to classroom teachers to find ways to help students improve their test scores.

"I think schools are now beginning to look at things they can do differently," said Anne Wheelis, coordinator of health and prevention programs at the Monterey County Office of Education. "The whole thing with PE is to make it fun and attractive so students want to participate in it."

Josie Villalpando, a physical education teacher who has taught PE at Foothill Elementary for 18 years, knows how to make the program fun. Last week she taught fourth-graders how to do popular dances like the electric slide and the macarena. The PE program, which includes homework, tests students' fitness every month.

Fitness starts at home

"I think it starts at home," Villalpando said about preventing obesity. "I think families need to get out and do things together. I put students on stationary bicycles, these were second-graders to sixth-graders, and they didn't know how to ride a bike. I think people are really busy and buying fast food because they don't have time to cook. If they had PE in school every day, it would be better."

According to a recent article in the New York Times, some experts have proposed that a combination of education and good eating habits, encouraging exercise and discouraging television-watching would make a difference.

However, Dr. Steven Gortmaker of the Harvard School of Public Health tried such an approach with sixth- and seventh-graders in 10 schools and found a slight decrease in obesity among the girls and no effect among the boys, said the New York Times article.

"It's certainly fair to say that the effects have been modest," Gortmaker said. "Yet they show you can make a difference."

Positive feedback

Foothill's Villalpando works with about 60 students in each PE class, assisted by at least one classroom teacher.

"It's much easier and the PE is much more effective for the kids because she's training in PE," said Lindsay Sullivan, a fourth-grade teacher who helped Villalpando during a class last week.

Students also praise Villalpando's class.

"If I didn't have a PE class, I wouldn't be a fast runner," said fourth-grader Adam Olivio. He previously attended Monterey's La Mesa Elementary where he didn't have a PE teacher. The difference to him? "Everything."

Jessica Adam, another fourth-grader, said she likes to jump rope in PE class, while her friend Rachel DiMaggio said she likes jumping jacks. Both agreed the class helps them stay in shape.

Hal Nelson, Foothill Elementary's principal, has been a strong physical fitness advocate. He previously taught PE at Pacific Grove High School where he also held several coaching positions. He worked with Villalpando and others in the community to come up with the school's physical fitness homework program which emphasizes cardiovascular, upper-body strength and stretching.

"We were concerned that in today's society children just aren't getting enough physical activity," Nelson said. "With the increasing number of overweight Americans, we felt it was time to start a program like this."

From 1976 to 1980, the National Center for Health Statistics reported 6.5 percent of children ages 6 to 11 were overweight, defined as heavier than 95 percent of children of the same age in population studies in the 1960s and '70s. A decade later, that fraction had nearly doubled. From 1990 to 1994, the center said, 11.4 percent of children in that age group were overweight. The findings were published in the New York Times.

Additionally, Mexican-American children appear to be among the most affected, though it is not clear why, according to information reported by the New York Times.

Healthy eating

In the Alisal Union School District, elementary schools offer the 5 a Day program designed to teach students healthy eating habits.

"We're trying to give nutrition education and promote physical activity to a wide range of students in the district," said Mark Johnson, the district's 5 a Day program facilitator.

The program sends educators to work with fourth- and fifth-graders throughout the district, except for Martin Luther King School where the organization runs a special garden nutrition program as part of the fourth-grade curriculum. The 5 a Day program also operates after-school health clubs at 10 schools where students learn about food preparation, eat what they cook and participate in physical activities.

The program has a bilingual educator to help parents learn about nutrition and the importance of regular physical activity for themselves as well as for their children.

"We're trying to close the gap between what children are learning at school and what's happening at home," Johnson said.

Rebecca Salinas, Alisal Unified School District's assistant superintendent for education support services, said, "Our population is principally Hispanic and poor and their diet isn't what it should be. Part of the 5 a Day is the ... training to teach parents to use more vegetables in their cooking."

To bolster the efforts they already have, Alisal Union School District is also applying for a grant from the Spark PE program that would provide funding to teach teachers new methods to implement physical education.

Focus on Latino families

Christine Moss, program coordinator for the Monterey County Health Department, oversees the county's Nutrition Network Program, which focuses on helping Latino families. The county health department also runs Food on the Run, which works with high school students, and Team Nutrition, which works with teachers.

In March, a Salinas-based organization called the Monterey County Health Consortium, will start the Shaping Health Families program. Executive Director Claudia Pizarro said the program will work with 15 families at Alisal Community Elementary School for eight weeks to help them learn to live healthier.

Ultimately, state schools official O'Connell said in November, "it's important that schools stay focused on improving health and fitness. Strong bodies and strong minds work together to help students succeed.

Schools that take up O'Connell's challenge to provide healthier meals, nutrition education and physical activity programs are eligible for a cash award of up to $10,000, based on available funding.

Brandy Underwood can be reached at 646-4332 or bunderwood@montereyherald.com.

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