HS Supervisors Outline Physical Education and Health Departments

This year, the Superintendent Charles Sampson has requested that each department in the district present an overview to the Board, and last week it was the Physical Education and Health Department’s turn.

Departments heads from each high school are Jeremy Braverman of Howell High School, Stephanie Mechmann of Freehold Township High School, Scott Liptzin of Marlboro High School, Kim Fox of Colts Neck High School, Melissa Busco-Venuto of Manalapan High School and John Schollenberger of Freehold High School.

Schollenberger listed the goals of the Physical Education and Health Departments, saying that all students are participating in a sequential, differentiated program which fosters each student’s personal health, fitness, and safety.

“Through exposure to a wide variety of activities, students gain the necessary knowledge to understand the importance of and make educated decisions around opportunities to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle,” Scholenberger said of the Physical Education department.

Every student is assessed individually based on their performance in the specific areas they are taught, such as technique, sportsmanship, strategies, teamwork, game rules, attitude and safety procedures.

"As we contend with childhood obesity and a litany of other health and social issues, the Health and PE curriculum remains front line in educating and providing students with an opportunity for positive growth in a myriad of different forms," Liptzin said.

Along with the general sports that have been taught to students taking Physical Education for years, there are many new sports that are being taught to high school students nowadays. Liptzin said that students now use yoga mats, exercise balls, fitness and weight rooms, aerobic exercises, and have entire class periods devoted to physical fitness and mental stability.

Out of the three marking periods that make up a school year, high school students are required to take one marking period of physical education and one marking period of health.

Every year, students are introduced to a different health curriculum:

Ninth Grade: Making Life Choices

Students learn to:

• outline the steps for making healthy decisions
• demonstrate effective communication skills
• prevent and manage stress
• define abstinence
• discuss various STI’s
• Understand various types of contraception
• Rating Violence: define dating violence and identify the signs of abuse and characteristics of a healthy relationship.

Tenth Grade: Driver’s Education

Students learn to:

• pass the state driver education exam with a minimum passing grade of 80 percent
• demonstrate clear knowledge of NJ rules/regulations as dictated by the NJ MVC
• demonstrate knowledge of traffic control devices

Eleventh Grade: First Aid/CPR

Students learn to:

• illustrate the need for First Aid
• demonstrate basic procedures for CPR on an adult, child, and infant
• demonstrate basic procedures for a chocking victim-CPR
• demonstrate basic procedures for breathing emergences
• objective: treat shock

Twelfth Grade: Responsible living

Students will understand:

• reproductive health concerns
• pregnancy and childbirth
• dating violence and the law
• future planning and budgeting
• responsible parenting
• dating violence: define dating violence and identify the signs of abuse and characteristics of a healthy relationship