The school board at Oak Park’s District 97 received pointed commentary at a public hearing June 10 regarding an application for an Illinois State Board of Education waiver to continue to schedule physical education classes every other day at the middle school level.
Based on community, staff and student feedback, Brooks and Julian middle schools will shift away from the current block schedule to a new master schedule next year where the core classes of science, social science, English and math will be offered every day for 50-minute increments, along with one elective.
Under the block format, students attended core classes every other day for 75-minute increments.
State law requires physical education at least three days in a five-day week. The waiver, for three years, would allow physical education to remain in a block format, alternating with another elective, meaning physical education classes would occur three days one week for 50 minutes and two days the following, also for 50 minutes.
The measure passed five to one, with new board member Becky Perez as the only no. Another board member, Holly Spurlock, was not present. But the vote occurred after three Julian teachers, one Brooks teacher, and a former district teacher voiced their concerns. Core to those concerns is an overall reduction in the minutes allocated to physical education in the middle schools.
“During my career in District 97, all the electives had the same number of minutes as core classes, and with the new schedule, this has not happened,” said Julian physical education teacher Jeff Featherstone. “The new schedule will have P.E. on the A-B schedule, similar to last, but we’re cutting the minutes from 75 to 50, while other electives will have class every day.
“This means the students will miss 75 minutes of physical education every two weeks with the new schedule compared to the current schedule. But if we were to have this elective, physical education, be an everyday elective, it would increase to 250 minutes per week.”
Brooks physical education teacher Tom Rocco read a letter from a recent Brooks graduate regarding her concerns about the waiver.
“For starters, P.E. has tons of great benefits,” Rocco read. “After sitting in cramped desks for hours with only passing periods to get blood moving, P.E. is a time for students to let off steam and take their mind off their assignments.
“Many middle schoolers already don’t get to move around a lot because of homework, screen addictions, etc., so P.E. is a great way to get them off their phones and into the real world.”
Added Peggy Callan, a 25-year District 97 teacher, physical education improves mood and social skills, and reduces anxiety.
“The district is missing the mark with this waiver,” Callan said.
Such waivers aren’t rare, according to Dr. Luis De Leon, assistant superintendent of middle schools. The district’s K-5 elementary schools have a waiver to offer 60 minutes of physical education class per week, in addition to daily recess and 15 minutes daily of physical education activity.
Under the new 2025-26 middle school master schedule, students will have a 36-minute lunch/recess period and a 36-minute What I Need (WIN) block, a dedicated time for students to receive targeted enrichment or intervention support, for a total block of 72 minutes.
Post-hearing, the board posed questions to Julian principal Nick Filipowski, Brooks principal April Capuder and De Leon for roughly 30 minutes.
“The whole schedule is a big change for next year,” said board member Nancy Ross Dribin, “which we appreciate. You’ve put in more minutes for English, for core subjects, for math and yet we still gave you the same amount of minutes a day.
“What are the plans to review it and check in over the next year?”
On Monday, De Leon said via email, “We want to be clear that we agree — physical education and students’ mental health are priorities.”
He said the district worked to balance its commitment to students’ overall well-being, including the importance of physical education, with the community’s request for increased instructional time in the core academic areas. This was a balancing act, he said, that required adjustments within the limited time available in the school day.
“Looking ahead, we plan to assess the impact of the new schedule on an ongoing basis and will continue to engage with our educators to address concerns in a meaningful way,” he said. “Collaboration and open dialogue will be essential as we work toward solutions that align with our educational goals and the needs of our students and staff.”
New social science curriculum OK’d: The board also unanimously approved adoption of a new middle school social science curriculum, Discovery Education, at a cost of $92,280.
Discovery Education was selected over HMH Social Studies, and will be implemented for the 2025-26 school year, according to Dr. Tawanda Lawrence, District 97 senior director of teaching and learning.
Brooks Middle School seventh-grade social science teacher Anna Kinnaman, who helped pilot finalists Discovery Education and HMH Social Studies this spring, said the former stood out for several reasons.
“For me, it was the inclusion of diverse voices and perspectives throughout their Techbook, which is their textbook,” Kinnaman said. “There are all these stories and experiences from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. HMH felt like traditional storytelling. Whatever curriculum was chosen should be inclusive of all Americans.”
Lawrence said the resource review process for the new curriculum began in the 2021-22 school year, with a group of administrators and teachers from Brooks and Julian reviewing various options and identifying those they would like to pilot. Discovery Education and HMH Social Studies were subsequently piloted this spring.
The resource review dovetailed with the development of a District 97 6-8 social science mission statement by school- and district-level administrators and social science department members that was presented to the board in 2022, though Lawrence said it did not need board approval. The mission statement says:
“The D97 Social Science Department is committed to helping students become independent and reflective thinkers. Students will make connections from history to the present through reading, writing and the inquiry process. As educators, we will guide students in the understanding and analysis of important issues of the past and foster a commitment to global citizenship, equity and anti-racism.”
Kinnaman believes students will be enriched by the new curriculum.
“I think they are going to do pretty well,” she said. “It’s super-helpful we ended (last) school year piloting Discovery Education. We’re just picking up where we left off in the fall.”