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Physical education in an alternative school setting: an exercise in creativity.

Article Excerpt
In an alternative school setting where facilities and funding score low as priorities, meeting district requirements for physical education remains an exercise in creativity. And touting the benefits of physical activity to students, particularly to girls, is a challenge.

These are the sentiments of two educators who work at the Osseo Area Learning Center (OALC), which serves approximately 350 junior and senior high students in Minnesota's Osseo School District. These students typically have not been successful in a traditional school setting for a variety of reasons including sub-standard academic performance, poor attendance, pregnancy, chemical dependency and mental health or behavior problems.

"Teachers need to pique the interest of students and stress the importance of physical education because many of their parents are not knowledgeable about the benefits of physical activity," says Osseo school district psychologist and teacher Kristi Klukas. "They don't see sports as very important."

She maintains that educators and parents alike consider physical fitness a frill and ignore the value of team or individual sports. "Physical activity is not valued as a mood enhancer or as a way to help students excel academically or otherwise," she says.

"We have to be very creative and innovative," adds Alicia Fischer, who teaches health and physical education at OALC. "The students and staff here are very flexible and they know that we are nor going...

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