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Keeping kids in motion: twin teachers set example for lifetime fitness.

Article Excerpt
Twins Joan and Joyce Spehar have a combined 40 years' experience reaching physical education. Each left once to work in the business world, but returned for the love of the kids. Thousands of tikes and teens have benefited from their tutelage, and what they have to say about the state of physical education in the public schools bears listening to. In short, there's not enough money to do what's needed. And the needs are greater than ever before.

This petite identical duo -- trim, fit, confident and energetic - grew up in a northern Minnesota family in which everyone participated in sports. Joan and Joyce and their five siblings were routinely rousted out of bed and into their backyard, where their dad taught them to field grounders and throw the ball back home. The entire Spehar Clan, as they call their extended family, was heavily into participatory athletics. In contrast, today's American kids' world is rife with television and computers, video games and movies-on-demand, high-fat packaged snacks and drive-through food.

"I truly believe kids need physical education now more than ever," says Joyce. Joan would agree. Her mantra: "We want to have kids in motion."

Both teach in the Anoka-Hennepin School District, a large suburban school system in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota. Comprising more than 40 schools and other learning facilities, the district has an annual operating budget exceeding $300 million. Because of steadily increasing costs and reduced revenue from the state, more than $10 million...

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