Lawsuit Settlement Requires CA School Districts to Prove They Are Providing PE to Students

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A settlement between two California parents and 37 school districts will require elementary schools to show proof that they are providing enough physical education (PE) time to students.

As a result of the recent settlement, elementary school teachers will be required to publicly document how many minutes of PE students are getting. In the case that PE time is missed, the teacher must provide an explanation for why the lesson was missed and how they will replace those minutes. Parents will be able to access information on how many minutes of PE students are getting and local school boards will review schedules, according to a news article from the California Report.

“We think it’s a huge accomplishment and it’s going to benefit public health in California,” said attorney Donald Driscoll, in the California Report.

Discoll, a lawyer and parent, who represents parents and the advocacy group Cal200 in the 2013 lawsuit alleges that dozens of school districts are out of compliance with state mandated physical education requirements. In California by law, schools are required to provide 200 minutes of physical education every 10 school days. However, with tight schedules and competing priorities PE is often the first thing to cut from the agenda.

In 2009, Driscoll first filed a law suit against Albany Unified. According to the California Report, the school district argued that the required 200 minutes were merely a guideline. In the end, the California Third District Court of Appeals ruled that physical education requirements were a mandate.

“I thought it was important to speak up not just for my son’s school but for the schools of other people’s kids,” attorney Donald Driscoll told the California Report.

Then in November 2014, Driscoll, parent Marc Babin, and Cal200 filed suit against Oakland Unified School District along with 36 more school districts, stating that districts were not in compliance with elementary school physical education requirements. As of now, insurers have warned school districts to be prepared with evidence that students are getting the required amounts of physical education.

Read more about this here.