Public Health in Oregon - Join The Conversation

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It is hard to watch the schools struggle for funds as they have. I’ve raised three boys who have each been in the Portland Public Schools. We’ve had excellent teachers and a few not so great ones. We’ve seen excellent leadership and commitment to kids, but not always the ability to carry through with the commitments.

In this debate the focus has been on PE, and I found myself struggling with that focus after a few days of thought. I felt stymied by the debate focusing on keeping teacher positions and not on physical activity for kids. We limited ourselves from thinking of other possible ways to get and keep kids active.

We also found ourselves possibly pitting PE against the arts and music, which would have been horrible to lose. Some kids find a lifeline in art or music classes that they don’t feel in general academic classes or in PE. I’d like to find a way to disconnect the debate from the number of teaching positions, and I say that knowing that I may incur the wrath of my colleagues and friends who advocate for teachers and schools. I support those services also, but I think we need to start from the standpoint that we need kids to be more physically active and then figure out ways we can afford to foster that. When we start with the solution, we can only argue for or against that solution. I felt stymied because I wanted to hear new trains of thought.

Maybe PE is part of the answer, but maybe 30 minutes of TaiChi for all students each morning and afternoon would be better. I’ve seen schools in other countries where hundreds of kids and adults do TaiChi with only one instructor. It is both invigorating and it’s beautiful to watch. Could we do something like that here? I don’t know, but I do know we have to create a space for creative brainstorming and not be stuck in one mindset.

Money isn’t going to fall from the sky to support our schools or public safety or human services or anything else. We can try new things to reach our youth, and who knows – one of them may have the creative solutions we’re looking for.

You know that the budget is going to be cut and the PE programs will be affected one way or the other.  Another tack we can take to minimize the impact is to use an alternate funding source.  There is a web site called HelpSchools.net.  There you can shop from hundreds of different stores and if you do, a percentage of the purchase price you pay is donated to the school of your choice.  Think about what would happen if everyone used this site.  We could revitalize our schools.  We can’t stop the budget axe, so the alternative is to find another funding source.  Helpschools.net can help Portland.