ABC-7 Listens: Viewer Asks About High School Fitness Test
by ABC-7 Reporter/Anchor Veronique Masterson
EL PASO, Texas — Imagine if graduating from high school rested on if a student was physically fit. That’s the concern of one parent. She wrote, “At Del Valle High School, they told the seniors to be prepared to take a physical examination…Not only do they have to run a mile, but perform push ups and sit ups. They were also told they would not be cleared to graduate.”
Ysleta Independent School District officials clarified the mix-up. They said starting this year, the state of Texas is requiring all students in the state to take a physical fitness test.
Unfortunately, not everyone understood that. “They just advised everybody seniors, to come dressed and ready to exercise,” Leslie Rodriguez, a Del Valle senior explained. “It’s unexpected because they just told me yesterday, but I’m not really prepared and I don’t know what I am going to do if I don’t qualify for what they are requiring.”
Bruce Reichman, the school’s health and physical education chairman said, “It’s probably lays on my fault. I should have sent the letter out a little earlier when we were talking about doing it during this testing time.”
Coach Reichman admits the school could have done a better job explaining the test to both students and parents.
So, on the day everyone was taking the TAKS test, more than 200 students at Del Valle High School seniors got physical. Faculty measured students’ flexibility, strength and endurance. Which was quite a test for some, as Del Valle senior Jessica Cardenas explained. “Just running a mile out there in the hot sun, it was pretty tough on students.”
The ultimate purpose is to see if there is a relationship between success at school and physical fitness and hopefully inspire the students to live a healthy lifestyle in the future, something Cardenas appreciated. “Students can have a better perspective about their health, like ‘oh I need to start exercising and run track and get in shape’,” she said.
From now on, every 3rd and 12th grade student in the state of Texas will have to take the test. But since it’s an assessment of the school’s fitness level, in no way will the test affect a student’s graduation.
