To The Editor:
While I applaud Mayor Bloomberg and his plan to limit the size of sugar sweetened beverages in the City of New York to help with our obesity crisis; the plan needs to devote equal attention to the lack of physical activity in our city schools. Our kids, all of us in fact, need to move more. The American Heart Association has some aggressive goals to improve physical education in our schools.
They include the actual enforcement of the current NY education mandate, stating that quality physical education be provided to all students, with minimum standards of at least 120 minutes per week. We would like to see a significant allocation in education funding to provide for renovation or construction of gym spaces and secure additional physical education teachers, who are certified and licensed.
The American Heart Association would also like to establish pilot projects in targeted schools that provide at least 150 minutes-per-week of physical education for each student in elementary school and 225 minutes-per-week for each student in middle school.
If the mayor really wants to beat the obesity epidemic in the City then we look forward to having him support our plan.
Sincerely,
Wendy Mono
Wendy Mono is an American Heart Association volunteer.
