At a board meeting held in Alta Vista high school’s auditorium on February 9, the Mountain View Los Altos (MVLA) school board passed option two of the three options presented by the administration regarding exempting freshmen from physical education (P.E.). Effective during the 2015 to 2016 school year, the option allows all freshmen with a total of at least seven classes to be exempt from their P.E. class during their sports season.

Board member Phil Faillace proposed a motion to pass option two on the condition that administration offer all freshmen the option for ungraded P.E. and that freshmen who are participating in a sport may choose to receive a grade in their P.E. course during the time they are in sports for the sole purpose of computing their athletic grade point average (GPA). However, this motion was taken down by board members Debbie Torok, Fiona Walter and Susan Sweeley in a three to one vote. Afterwards, another motion was passed for option two with no additions or modifications. The motion carried three to zero, with Faillace abstaining and board member Joe Mitchner absent. 

After the approval, the board discussed implementation of option two to be refined in future meetings with the administration. 

“[The district] will work with administration and the staff on implementation,” MVLA Superintendent Barry Groves said. “Incoming ninth graders will be notified that there will be an exemption available during their course selection window [this spring].”

The board also agreed to discuss the issues regarding the differences in curriculum between Mountain View High School’s (MVHS’) P.E. curriculum and Los Altos High School’s (LAHS’) P.E. curriculum and the consideration of having freshman P.E. count for graduation credit at later dates.

Prior to the decision, the board heard from thirteen community members, who included multiple parents and P.E. teachers from both MVHS and LAHS. Parents of both incoming or current students and alumni voiced concerns from both aspects of the issue, while the P.E. teachers reiterated concerns regarding grading and scheduling complications during implementation.

The board will meet again on March 9 for a regular meeting in the district office, located behind MVHS at 1299 Truman Ave. at 7 p.m..

Make sure to pick up a copy of The Talon tomorrow to read more about the details of the issue. The link to a list of the three options which were voted upon tonight can be found here: https://www.lahstalon.org/freshman-p-e-exemption-update/