Gym class has been a requirement for all schools in the U.S from pre-k all the way up to 12th grade.  Although here at Washington high school students only need to complete one class a semester, and if you are in the show choir and marching band you get a pass on this requirement which leaves many students wondering why. Not because they feel the pass is unwarranted but more because it feels unfair to other students involved in school sports.

Generally school sports at Washington practice daily after school excluding actual games or meet days. Each activity comes with its variety of different exercises but it can be agreed upon that no matter the workout students are there staying active and getting a good workout each day. It could easily be argued that students engage in better, more physically challenging exercise compared to what they do in gym class. So why are these athletes meant to carve out time on their schedules to complete an in person or online gym class?

Let’s take a closer look at Washington High School’s gym class requirement. Here at Washington students are required to engage in 1 gym class a semester whether that be online or in person. Now students who are involved in show choir and marching band do not have to have a gym class on their schedule for either semester but after an interview with someone apart of our school administration team it can be known that students who are apart of show choir or marching band are actually dual enrolled in that activity along with the class rhythmic movement, that still requires them to take the pacer test once a year along with other Washington students. Therefore this class on their schedule is their physical education class. They are not getting a waiver for gym, they are just participating in a different movement class that is required for their activity. This rule has been in place for while at our school, at least for over the last 25 years.

Now to compare our gym class rules to other schools: City High can be seen doing things a little differently, students are allowed to get a waiver for gym class if they are involved in show choir or band, have a full academic schedule or they are participating in a sport that trimester. This is a little different than here at Wash while this school is split into 1st semester and 2nd semester City High has 3 trimesters so if a student is doing a sport during that first trimester they do not need to participate in a gym class but when the 2nd or 3rd trimester comes along and they are not involved in a sport than that would  require them to take a physical education class that 2nd or 3rd trimester. Although other schools in our district such as Kenndy and Jefferson follow the same gym class requirements as our school.

Washington High School used to offer gym class waivers to any student involved in a school sport although this perhaps created more problems than it was worth because when students heard about this rule they would sign up for any activity at school such as the golf team and not show up to practice or events leaving coaches as well as other students in that activity frustrated. Also creating the clear problem that these students were not getting any physical activity at all just using the rule as a way to get another open period, therefore the rule was thrown out.

Looking at the future of our school there have been debates about if this pass from regular gym class will still be offered, worrying that participation in show choir and marching band may dwindle if they revert back to students taking a regular gym class; it won’t promote them to get involved in these activities. So it’s unclear if there will be any change in the future but for now we know a little bit more about this rule at our school.