MTAHPERD - Montana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance

MTAHPERD wishes you a Happy and Healthy 2010!

Keep your eyes on the site for the next MTAHPERD Newsletter--coming soon!

News

February RHI webinar presented by the Montana Nutrition and Physical Activity Program (NAPA) on February 11--click here for more details!

Get help with your Archery Program Equipment needs--click here!

Reward Ideas for the Classroom

Are you looking for ideas as to how to motivate your students without resorting to the age-old reward of food? Here is a list of healthy (and inexpensive) alternatives for you and your teaching staff!

Waivers for PE?

Some districts and states are now allowing students to opt out of physical education classes when they participate in out of school activities. Should students be allowed to count activiites such as dance, football, baseball, and cheerleading as their high school PE credit? The debate is on...

Read NASPE's Position Paper "Opposing Substitution and Waiver/Exemptions for Required Physical Education".

It is important to note the stand our great state of Montana has on the issue. According to OPI:

No waivers. The issue gets down to unit requirements and the content and performance standards. Refer Nancy to 10.55.902.4.v - Basic Education Program Middle Grades and 10.55.904.2 g - Basic Education Program Offerings of the Accreditation Manual: High School. Each of these standards states a certain number of units for each level of student. The Junior High age student must receive 1/2 unit of health enhancement for each of the 7th and 8th grade years. High School students must receive a full unit of health enhancement over a two year period. A unit of instruction is 225 minutes for an entire year.

By also referring Nancy to the Health Enhancement Content and Performance Standards (10.54.7010 - 10.54.7098) she will see that Health Enhancement standards cannot be satisfied through the participation of one athletic or cheerleading activity. The physical activity is only a part of Health Enhancement. Health instruction is also a very important area of the program that a student would not receive if he or she were given credit for an extracurricular activity.

The last point would be that the instruction must come from a properly licensed and endorsed Health Enhancement teacher. Many coaches and cheerleading advisors do not have the proper endorsements.

I hope this answers Nancy's questions. If she has more questions or concerns she can certainly give us a call.

Dale Kimmet
Accreditation Specialist
Montana Office of Public Instruction

A big thanks to Nancy for staying on top of these important issues for us!

Join the Delegation to China for Health Education

Looking for something new to spice up your winter months? How about a trip in November to promote health education in China? Check out the details...

Are you ready for another Sport Season?

Check out these resources from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) for you and your co-workers:

MTAHPERD Award Nominations

Know anyone who you feel deserves an award? Our online Award Nomination form is available for download. Just open the award nomination page and print a copy. The award nomination form uses The Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available for free download.

The Montana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (MTAHPERD) is a professional organization of educators dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles among all Montanans through the promotion of health education, physical education, lifetime fitness and recreational activities, and dance. The mission of MTAHPERD is to provide advocacy to its members; provide a venue for presentation of research; provide information on grant opportunities; and provide professional development through conventions and workshops to its members. It is the duty of the officers and members of MTAHPERD to actively seek out new information regarding health enhancement and education in order to ensure professional development and to communicate this information with the people of Montana.