MONTGOMERY, AL - The Dale County School System has won a Carol M. White Physical Education Program grant for $450,210 from the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). Dale County is 1 of only 73 grantees in the nation.
The USDE is awarding Carol M. White Physical Education Program grants totaling $26.5 million to give more children access to physical education programs and instruction on healthy eating and good nutrition. Grants will provide 73 public schools and community-based organizations with funds to initiate, expand, and improve physical education programs for students in Grades K-12.
“Physical activity and healthy eating habits are as important as studying hard in school,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said. “The Department of Education will be doing more to make this connection to students and adults, and to educate our children in ways that can maintain good health.”
Dale County’s plans for the grant to help make students healthier and more active include:
· Adoption and implementation of new model programs for physical education;
· Development of laboratory training sites for the state, in partnership with Troy University;
· “Train the trainer” certification of P.E. and nutrition teachers; and
· Addition of new outdoor education, leisure, and recreation activities that students will engage in throughout their lives.
Outdoor education plans include incorporating the use of Alabama’s natural playgrounds along with the following programs:
· National Archery in the Schools
· Hooked On Fishing–Not On Drugs®
· Outdoor Alabama-Step Outside
The school system also plans to implement and model the following programs:
· PE4life is dedicated to inspiring active, healthy living by advancing the development of quality, daily physical education programs for all children.
· SPARK incorporates the “Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.”
· Skillastics® is dedicated to body movement and its underlying principles, using soccer, basketball, volleyball, fitness, and nutrition emphasizing non-competitive aspects of sports.
Carol M. White Physical Education Program grants can be used to provide equipment and support for students to participate actively in physical education activities, as well as for staff and teacher training and education.
The Dale County School System will use their grant to provide equipment and supplies to implement their programs, curriculum development for physical education and nutrition, teacher training, field trips, nutrition-integrated activities for summer and after-school programs, as well as to enhance LIFE (Lifelong Individualized Fitness Education). LIFE is the required high school physical education course in Alabama public schools. Its goal is to make physical activity a part of students’ lives beyond high school.
Since the program began in 2001, the USDE has awarded approximately $555 million in Carol M. White Physical Education Program grants. For more information, contact USDE: Jo Ann Webb, 202-401-1576, or Carlette Huntley, 202-245-7871.
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