Kane County Reporter

At its Oct. 25 meeting, the Board of Education of Community Unit School District 300 heard from the district's director of PE/Health, Tommy Parisi, who discussed the high schools' blended PE program.

"(The blended PE program) gives students greater choice in their school. They get greater choice in their physical education opportunities, and it gives students greater choice in what they want to do to stay healthy, which is – at the end of the day – what we're all about," Parisi said.

The flexible PE program was started for grades 9-12 in the 2017-2018 school year. Since then, the program has seen about 100 students each semester over the last five years. It is a nontraditional PE class that meets once a week for 60 minutes in a time outside of the traditional school day.

On their own, students have a goal of achieving vigorous physical activity every single school day with a target of hitting 60% of their max heart rate for at least 30 minutes. Students also complete weekly cognitive assignments and reflections based on their own personal health and exercise plans that will effectively reach goals that they set for themselves.

The class was created to allow students to have more room for the academic courses they want to take. Since PE is still required, this allows students to achieve that requirement while taking more of the academics. It was also to encourage lifelong habits and skills for maintaining their own health. 

Students track their own workouts with heart monitors or a smart device and upload pictures of the results as proof of their completion. All their workouts and other cognitive activities are uploaded through Schoology, a program that the district utilizes. They see a lot of dedicated student athletes who want to complete their unique workout, like equestrians or weight lifters.