A new school year has begun and with that has come a series of changes here at King City High School.  One of the most drastic changes that occurred at the start of this year was the change in the PE program.

    Many may remember that prior to this year, three years of PE was required for graduation. That requirement has now been changed and reduced to only two years.  This reduction in the requirement has also lead to a reduction in the number of PE units offered and King City High School.  Many juniors and seniors have not been allowed because there aren’t enough units (or classes/sports for a particular quarter) offered to allow as many students to participate in PE. 

    The PE program now has three teachers rather than its usual four. One of those teachers, Mrs. Benway, also teaches two periods of History. This means that during those periods only two units are offered, and each unit can only be filled with 45 students.  Because only 45 students can participate in each unit, many of the students that have fulfilled their graduation requirement, such as juniors and seniors, are forced to choose alternative electives or free periods. This makes it so that there is enough space in the PE classes for the freshmen and sophomores to fulfill their required two years of PE for graduation.

    For some, this change doesn’t make and difference and some juniors are even happy about not having to do a third year of PE.  Sandy Woodruff explains that with an extra period open in her schedule she is able to take more electives, “I’m taking Art III in place of PE”, an elective that she might not have been able to take until her senior year.  This is the case for many juniors who are now able to take more electives because there is more room in their schedules for these extra electives. In fact, Moriah Kessler is using that extra space to fulfill graduation requirements early so that she will be able to graduate this year rather than with her class next year.

    However, not everyone is as excited about the change.  For some, especially seniors, who were hoping to have PE as an extra elective this year and weren’t able to, they have been forced into undesired TA periods, and many have opted toward free periods.  Tess Welburn said, “I don’t like not having PE.  I wanted to be able to take it this year—I wouldn’t have had to run the mile and would have been able to dominate at ping-pong.” Welburn also explains that because she wasn’t able to take PE as an elective she, like many other seniors, has a TA period.  

    With these extra students in TA periods there is now an overflow of TA’s on campus.  In fact, finding a teacher to TA for was difficult for many students who found that most teachers either had a TA or didn’t need one that period.  Some teachers even have more than one TA for a single period.