Brian Griffith, FCPS supervisor for health and physical education, and Jessica Valentine, teacher specialist, briefed the Curriculum & Instruction Committee on current health and physical education practices and upcoming state framework changes.

Griffith said the district consolidated elementary and secondary supervision after a retirement and now operates with a preK–12 supervisor model supported by a teacher specialist. Staff emphasized that opt-out procedures and parent preview opportunities are managed at the school and teacher level; they said one parent preview is offered in the fall and one in the spring, and staff will work to standardize forms and public-facing website links so families can find opt-out resources consistently.

On state frameworks, staff reported the Maryland State Board of Education recently met and approved health standards; physical education standards are expected to be published shortly, and FCPS will review system alignment once those standards are finalized. At the secondary level, middle-school students typically receive one quarter of health and three quarters of PE over the year; in high school, health is split into Health 1 and Health 2 (0.5 credits) and students may meet the 0.5 requirement through dual enrollment, FCVS virtual offerings or local scheduling options.

Griffith and Valentine described priorities including grading consistency across the district, addressing officiating shortages by exploring student officiating certification and bolstering unified and adaptive PE programs with itinerant specialists (two teacher specialists and three itinerants supporting adaptive programming). They said approximately 48,000 students and more than 200 PE teachers are served systemwide, and staff noted an equitable-access issue tied to testing costs for the Seal of Biliteracy in ASL that the world languages team is addressing.

Board members raised questions about adding a nutrition elective and ensuring communication and visibility of opt-out materials for families who have limited internet access. Staff said state supervisors are discussing a possible nutrition elective and that FCPS will continue work to make opt-out forms and lesson previews easy to find on public websites.

No formal policy votes were taken at the meeting; staff said changes that require board approval (new courses, schedule changes) will come back for action.