Clayton Valley students are quite unfit.

Only 36.7 percent of ninth-graders last year met all six state health standards, according to the 2004-05 California Physical Fitness Report.

Some P.E.teachers are unsatisfied with the results of the tests last year’s freshmen took and believe that they must improve.

“It’s disappointing as a physical educator knowing that only 30 percent of students are passing the standards...” said P.E. teacher Jennifer Arnold.

Arnold believes the results may be lagging because of the block schedule.

“They [students] are only getting cardio-vascular exercise 2 to 3 times a week,” she said.

P.E. teacher Kay Forrester believes student apathy is to blame.

“Students should take the test more seriously,” she said. “The non-suits [students who don’t wear uniforms] are bringing averages down because they’re not in condition when the test comes.”

Some students feel P.E. doesn’t do enough for student health.

“P.E. does not help at all,” said freshman Michael Adan said. “You need to eat right too.”

The standards, however, are not taking into consideration how unhealthy our children are today, according to Arnold. The timing of the test, which must be given in February, March, April or May, doesn’t receive a great deal of conderation as well.

“We give the test late in the year,” she said. “By that time, they should be able to pass the test.”

The PFT is designed to discover information that will allow teachers to design curriculum for future physical education programs to improve scores.

The fitness areas tested by the PFT are aerobic capacity, body composition, abdominal strength and endurance, trunk extension strength, upper body strength and flexibility. All students enrolled in a California public school are required to take the PFT in grades five, seven and nine.

Aerobic capacity, body composition and upper body strength results worsened, whereas abdominal strength, trunk extension strength and flexibility standards have all improved since 2003-04.

The percentage of students successfully passing all six standards decreased by 37.5 percent in 2003-04, according to the 2004-05 PFT Report.