Square 1: Re-Scheduling

Just when I thought I finally had my speech therapy pull-out schedule set, I find out that California may have a law that says we cannot pull students from P.E. for DIS services! I couldn't believe it and searched high and low but fell short of any findings.

Today, at the District SLP meeting, I asked the administrator if there was such a Special Education law, and boy was I in for a shock. She said, "Actually, believe it or not, it is not a Special Education law. It's a General Ed law in the state of California."

Wouldn't you know, I searched it under General Ed just now and found the following:

The minimum requirements for physical education are:
All K-12 students (including students with disabilities and/or special health-care needs and those in alternative educational settings) will receive physical education instruction as designated (EC sections 51210, 51222, and 51223):
- A minimum of 200 minutes for every 10 school days for students in grades 1-6
- A minimum of 400 minutes for every 10 school days for students in grades 7-12

So here I go again...re-scheduling! I mean, I'm not surprised considering childhood obesity rates increasing like crazy and yes, I am concerned about my kiddos' healths. On the other hand, I think it's absolutely outrageous that out of all school subjects, only Physical Education has a state mandated minimum time requirement! That means that our kids don't have to be in Math, Language Arts, History, or Science for a set amount of time each day/week...but they sure as heck better be in P.E. a minimum of 20 or 40 minutes a day!

I wouldn't be so worried if we didn't have a minimum day every Thursday where the students do not actually engage in physical activity during that half an hour. Ugh, do I go back to square one?