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Seattle schools program has them running to the White House
By Denise Whitaker
Published: Sep 8, 2014 at 11:27 AM PDT
Seattle schools program has them running to the White House



SEATTLE -- A Seattle Public Schools program has gained national attention and district leaders will be headed to the White House to share its success with others.

The district's curriculum and approach to physical education earned it an invitation from the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition.

Interim Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland will make the trip to participate in the Let's Move! Active Schools Leadership Roundtable.

"There's a ton of research out there about healthier kids learning better," said Lori Dunn, the district's physical education manager.

Dunn has been at the district for seven years now and she said the focus from the lunch line to the playground and certainly in the classroom is on helping kids be healthy and active.

"We're being very thoughtful as we're planning out this is what we want all kids to know," she said.

Each Seattle school now has a physical education teacher assigned to it, who not only teaches P.E. but also guides other staff members on how to incorporate fitness into their daily lesson plans.

"The student's attention span sitting in that chair is not really going to hold their attention focus and so the teacher would infuse the academic focus through movement," Dunn said.

Dunn calls these "Brain Boosters" and here's one example she gives: A teacher reviewing spelling with students, would ask the class to stand up and use their finger to spell out a word in the air. Such short activity breaks she said really help children stay focused on their lesson plan.

"We're helping students understand that activity is very important in their overall minutes in the school day," she said.

Instead of focusing solely on sports, the curriculum embeds activity in every class, giving every student the 5 components of fitness: muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, cardio respiratory endurance and body composition.

"Healthier kids learn better and people are starting to notice the work we're doing as a whole cooperative community," Dunn said.

Even the White House noticed, which is why interim superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland will now share Seattle's successes with a few dozen select superintendents from across the country. The roundtable discussion is Sept. 15 in Washington, D.C.