Five in six of Gilroy’s fifth graders are physically unfit,
according to the results of a state fitness test.
Gilroy
Five in six of Gilroy’s fifth graders are physically unfit, according to the results of a state fitness test.
Every spring, all fifth, seventh and ninth graders are given a state standardized physical fitness test. The test assesses six major fitness areas, including cardiovascular endurance, body fat percentage, abdominal strength and endurance, trunk strength and flexibility, upper body strength and endurance, and overall flexibility. Only 16.6 percent of the district’s fifth graders met the minimum requirements on all six of the assessments and nine in 10 of Gilroy’s Hispanic fifth graders didn’t make the grade. Middle and high school students performed closer to county and state averages.
“Every single child in the world should be able to score a six out of six,” said Pat Vickroy, an elementary school physical education teacher. “These are minimum standards.”
Each one of Gilroy’s eight elementary schools failed to measure up to the state average, of 28.5 percent, and only Rucker Elementary School managed to surpass the county average of 27.5 percent
Although Eliot Elementary School has made recent gains academically, its fitness results lagged behind. A dismal 4.5 percent of Eliot’s fifth graders succeeded on all six assessments.
Eliot Principal James Dent and district Superintendent Deborah Flores did not return phone calls.
Vickroy, who has been a P.E. teacher in Gilroy for 29 years, said the elementary schools with significantly lower scores are the schools where teachers are not taking their students outside for activities. Vickroy and another elementary school P.E. teacher only spend 30 minutes a week with fourth and fifth graders. Classroom teachers are responsible for the other 70 weekly minutes mandated by state law.
“It is illegal,” Vickroy said of some teachers’ failure to act in accordance with the mandate.
But with an already crowded plate, many teachers don’t have the time to fulfill the 70 minute fitness requirement, Vickroy said.
“It’s all about priorities and P.E. is really low down on the list,” he said after returning from a training in El Paso, Texas, where every elementary student receives daily P.E. instruction. “One day a week is not going to improve their fitness. They need to do cardio a minimum of three to five days a week before we’re going to see any improvement.”
While fifth grade scores lagged behind both state and county averages, 33.6 percent of seventh graders in Gilroy succeeded on all six measures – slightly better than the state average and only 3 percentage points behind the county average; 34.6 percent of Gilroy’s ninth graders succeeded on all six measures – slightly worse than the state average and 5.5 percentage points behind the county average. Ninth graders also pulled 8 percentage points ahead of last year’s ninth graders. While fifth graders only have P.E. once a week, seventh and ninth graders have it daily, which makes a big difference, Vickroy said.
On a positive note, Vickroy was pleased that the district had reinstated the Run for Fitness program and hopes all the schools will participate this year. Historically, participation in the program is correlated with higher fitness scores, he said.
“The results are disappointing, obviously,” Trustee Jaime Rosso said. “Every school has to find a way to address the issue. I’m absolutely convinced that there are things that can be done, now that schools are more aware of how they’re doing.”
Rosso said that while academics are important, teachers can’t ignore the physical fitness of their students.
But district officials agreed that the responsibility to keep Gilroy’s children fit doesn’t rest solely on the shoulders of the school district.
“I think the thing that’s most frustrating is that parents of obese children are obese themselves and don’t view themselves as unhealthy,” Vickroy said. “They don’t see anything wrong with it.”
Every year, Vickroy sends home a fitness report card with every one of his students. He highlights their scores and writes a note to parents inviting them to call him with questions or concerns.
“Not a single parent has called me in last two years,” he said. “These are the parents of kids who are failing miserably. As a society, we’ve become incredibly lazy and it’s showing up in our bodies.”
