Missing quarter or two of phys ed for medical reasons

What happens if a student misses a couple of quarters of phys. ed due to a broken leg or something like that. Do they have to make up the missed quarters or is it just a write-off?

Graf said:
What happens if a student misses a couple of quarters of phys. ed due to a broken leg or something like that. Do they have to make up the missed quarters or is it just a write-off?

Graf,

Make sure your child's physician has documented the injury and that you have addressed the issue verbally and in writing with the school principal, guidance, gym teacher, and the district's physical education supervisor. I believe that in cases like this the student is assigned a study hall or can sit at the sidelines, but do not assume anything. Get it in writing. It shouldn't be a problem in the lower grades, but a certain number of quarters of physical education are required for high school graduation. Address the situation sooner rather than later and everything should work out.

For high school, with sufficient notice (and I think that now ought to be sufficient for fall), they might be able to assign the health course for first quarter, since one quarter each year is a classroom health course rather than phys ed activity type course. And I know that students with medical excuses do sometimes have a study hall in lieu of PE in this case. There are also other makeup mechanisms, but I don't know if they would be required in this situation or not. (One quarter, my child had too many absences and had to redo the quarter - which WAS Health - and she did a take-home packet to make it up.)

I don't know how it works now but when my kids were in high school ( CHS) the school put them in health class. In fact, early in the school year my son broke his arm (in PE) and he was moved into a health class. Get the documents from your doctor and get them to the school as quickly as possible

The high school has to be able to respond on short notice since most of us don't plan broken arms and legs or concussions in advance.

Anyway, good advice here and I will talk to somebody in the high school. Seems like a lot of people are still on vacation.

Whatever documentation you provide, KEEP COPIES. Often, prior permission still results in requiring an attendence appeal, and you have to resubmit the same documentation as they do not seem to keep it from the beginning of the quarter until the end.

I'm sure the laws have changed, but I was exempt from PE during HS due to medical reasons. I took another class during that time, except for my yearly quarter of health. Check with Ms LoBianco (health and PE dept chair) but I believe the student would have a medical exemption for that quarter.

max_weisenfeld said:
Whatever documentation you provide, KEEP COPIES. Often, prior permission still results in requiring an attendence appeal, and you have to resubmit the same documentation as they do not seem to keep it from the beginning of the quarter until the end.

And beware that the attendance office may not make things easy for you...I once got a call telling me that I had to come in TODAY to do some sort of paperwork or have my child flunk 8th grade accelerated math.

I had been given no warning that there were issues to be resolved, and the administrative assistant on the phone made it clear that it would have been my problem if I had been travelling (or even in NYC) and unable to come in that afternoon.

Some attitude. Sometimes they really get above themselves.

No warning and then your problem if you've been traveling? The think the "remiss" part is on their end when they don't give you reasonable notice.

What some of them forget, is that in the end all they are public servants. Their "public service" is to provide a thorough and efficient education, paid for by you, the taxpayer.

BG9 said:
Some attitude. Sometimes they really get above themselves.
No warning and then your problem if you've been traveling? The think the "remiss" part is on their end when they don't give you reasonable notice.
What some of them forget, is that in the end all they are public servants. Their "public service" is to provide a thorough and efficient education, paid for by you, the taxpayer.

Eh, I was told that they really didn't have to call me...the woman who called me felt that she was doing me a favor with the last minute notification. Maybe she was.

The thing is, my kid was an 8th grader taking math at CHS, and neither she nor I had really been taught how the HS attendance worked. I'm sure I'd have managed to sort it out if I had been out of town, but the experience wasn't a good introduction to Columbia.

So I guess the message is that Columbia, however wonderful it can be, can also be quite bureaucratic, and doesn't always come with a good "users manual" to how to get things done there.

But back to the OP...best of luck on the phys ed question. Let us know what the answer is!