Retired PE teacher urges board to reject varsity PE opt-out policy
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Summary
At a board meeting, Thomas Feeney, a retired physical-education teacher, told the North Syracuse board an opt-out policy for varsity athletes would reduce students' exposure to lifetime fitness activities and urged rejection of such a policy, citing coaching and supervision concerns.
Thomas Feeney, a retired physical-education teacher, used the board’s public-comment period to urge trustees to oppose any policy allowing varsity student athletes to opt out of physical-education classes.
“I encourage this board to vote against any type of physical education opt out policy,” Feeney said, outlining concerns about supervision and the educational scope of varsity sports. He told the board the high-school PE program “introduces students to a wide variety of lifetime activities” and said varsity coaches are not necessarily trained PE teachers.
Feeney cited district figures during his three-minute comment: “In our district, there are 34 varsity sports. Only 11 are head coached by physical education team. Five of those sports are coached by nonteachers at all,” and he argued that those numbers indicate inconsistent qualifications among coaches. He warned that allowing opt-out could place nonparticipating students into overcrowded or unsupervised study halls, send students home, or otherwise create noneducational settings for those students.
Feeney framed his remarks in the context of the district’s mission to produce well-rounded students and said an opt-out policy appeared designed to save money rather than serve students’ educational needs.
The board did not take formal action on the issue during the meeting; the item was raised as public comment.