All Work, Less Play in Public Schools

By: Natalie PardoBlue pants and skirts pressed, white shirts buttoned, hair braided and pinned, children darted on a recent spring morning across North Sedgwick Street—in the opposite direction of Manierre Elementary School, 1420 N. Hudson Ave. on Chicago’s Near North Side. Their destination: B.T.’s Beauty Supplies, a corner store at 1501 N. Sedgwick St.

With just minutes to spare before the 8:50 a.m. bell, dollar bills and coins were pushed across the counter for Frooties, Mega Warheads, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Big Red chewing gum, grape juice in plastic squeeze bottles and sour dill pickles. Dominique Jones, a 14-year-old eighth-grader, said she starts every day with a 50-cent pickle.

This last-minute shopping spree happens most days near elementary schools across the city. In the West Side Austin neighborhood, students at Leslie Lewis Elementary School, 1431 N. Leamington Ave., flock to shops on West North Avenue, including T.M. & J. Candyworld.
On a May 26 visit to Lewis, 11 of the 24 sixth-graders in Room 230 said they had eaten breakfast at home the previous morning. Thirteen skipped breakfast or ate junk food—the most popular being Flamin’ Hot, a Cheetos product with a spicy red coating.

“They’re the bomb,” said Jessica Reynolds, 11. “They give you energy,” added 12-year-old Satonja Benion, who had a sucker and a bag of Flamin’ Hot that morning.

The nutrition label on a bag of Flamin’ Hot reports the snack contains 12 percent of the daily requirement of sodium and no Vitamin A, Vitamin C or calcium.

Health experts say poor nutrition and lack of exercise are at the root of many medical problems among adults, such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. African Americans and Latinos suffer disproportionately from these illnesses, which often begin with habits established in childhood.

But in the Chicago Public Schools, which oversee the education of 431,085 students every year, nutrition and fitness have taken a back seat to test scores and academic achievement, an investigation by The Chicago Reporter has found.

With few exceptions, elementary grade students work in a tightly packed school day with few breaks and little time for lunch. Despite a state law requiring some form of physical education daily, most schools hold these classes no more than twice a week, and four out of five schools don’t offer recess.

“It’s tragic,” said Linda Van Horn, professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Medical School. “Students need to leave not only academically prepared, but ready to face day-to-day life in an optimal way.”

“Healthy children learn better,” said Margaret Finnegan, program coordinator for the public schools’ Family Life and AIDS Education unit. “A child who is not feeling well in school, or is in school with an improper meal, didn’t have breakfast, lunch or dinner—the likelihood of achieving academically is very challenging.”

In an effort to build strong minds, schools are giving less attention to maintaining healthy bodies—despite the clear connection between the two, experts say.

“Children who are physically fit generally do better academically,” said Carl P. Gabbard, director of the Motor Development Laboratory at Texas A&M University in College Station. “Physical activity increases the blood flow and stimulates the brain.”

Obesity also is a big challenge for students, said Myrna P. Garcia, director of student health services for the Chicago Public Schools. The 3,214 students diagnosed as obese by their physicians placed obesity second only to asthma, at 11,131, among students’ major medical disorders during the 1996-97 school year.

Experts say the data underestimate the number of overweight children, since they include those at least 20 percent to 30 percent above their average weight. In addition, medical information is only collected when new students enter the system and before pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and fifth and ninth grades.

“I bet you it’s even higher than that. I’m surprised it’s number two,” said Dr. William H. Dietz, director of the division of nutrition and physical activity at the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Based on national data that show 10 percent to 15 percent of children are overweight, 43,108 to 64,663 Chicago public school students would fit in this category.

The proportion of overweight children is rising, particularly among minorities, according to studies by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. A 1963-65 study found that among children ages 6 to 11, 5.1 percent of white girls and 5.3 percent of black girls were overweight.

When the study was repeated between 1988 and 1994, 11.7 percent of white girls were overweight, compared to 17.4 percent of black girls and 15.8 percent of Mexican American girls. Overweight children were defined as those at or above the 95th weight percentile for their age group.

The proportion of white boys in that category rose from 5.4 percent in 1963-65 to 14.6 percent in 1988-94; black boys increased from 1.7 percent to 15.1 percent. In 1988-94, 18.8 percent of Mexican-American boys were overweight.

“I would like to see more physical activity in school, but it takes a long time to find money for the program,” Garcia said. “Physical activity has diminished because of our concentration on academics.”

No Recess
About 25 years ago, the school day for Chicago elementary children ran from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. and students had 45 minutes to go home for lunch, said Margaret M. Harrigan, a professor of education at DePaul University who served, among other things, as a principal and administrator in the public school system for 44 years.

Schools began closing their campuses after residents in Austin complained about children walking across their lawns and fighting, Harrigan recalled.

That meant the teachers had to monitor students’ lunch periods and move their own lunches to 2:30 p.m., effectively ending the day 45 minutes earlier and eliminating much of the time children had to socialize and play. Today, most schools allow students 20 minutes to eat inside the building, school officials said.

Harrigan said the change hurt kids. “Schools have decided that the way to deal with predominantly poor, minority populations is to lock them up. What they are doing is simulating prison conditions.”

But not all schools have dropped recess, the Reporter found. Schools with the lowest percent of poor and minority children are the most likely to still get recess, according to the Reporter’s survey of 485 of the 495 schools for which racial data are available; 22 declined to participate. Thirty of the 59 schools with a student enrollment at least 30 percent white still have recess, compared to only 40 of the 318 schools that are less than 5 percent white.

The numbers are even more striking at schools with a high percentage of low-income students, defined as those who have signed up for free or reduced-price lunches. Recess is available in only about 10 percent of schools that are at least 95 percent low-income. That proportion climbs as the poverty rate declines: At 14 schools with less than 30 percent low-income students, 12 enjoy recess.

A principal’s decision to eliminate or curtail recess “has nothing to do with race or poverty,” said Cozette M. Buckney, chief education officer for the Chicago Public Schools. The Illinois School Code does not include a policy on recess.

“They make those determinations based on what academic concerns they have for the school, or what safety and health concerns recess may cause.”

But she added: “If you run a school where every student sits at a desk and doesn’t interact with anything all day long, then there’s a problem.”

“Children need physical activity to literally grow their brains,” said Jennifer Rosinia, an adjunct faculty member at the Erikson Institute, a Chicago-based graduate school specializing in child development.

She advises teachers to send restless students to the school office with a note, which may say nothing more than “Johnny needed a break.” Still, it makes a huge difference when the child returns to the classroom, she said.

Other than a weekly gym class, Lewis students get no physical activity. So in late May, when 12-year-old Ashley Bush got up to stretch during reading class, teacher Tara S. Stamps didn’t say a word.

Her classmate, 12-year-old DeAndre Willis, wished for a longer physical education period and said students need recess “to express our anger.”

According to Cassandra Bady, 12, “We need recess because we wouldn’t talk so much in the classroom. If we could go outside, we could talk then.” Added Sierra Howard, 12: “It could give us kids time to loosen up from school work and free our minds, and give our teacher a break.”

Recess is a daily activity at Norwood Park Elementary, at 5900 N. Nina Ave. on the city’s far Northwest Side. While most elementary schools end their day at 2:30 p.m., Norwood Park, which is 70.2 percent white, extended its day to 3:15 p.m. to allow for a longer lunch period and recess. The Chicago School Board could not say how many other schools have extended their days beyond 2:30 p.m.

In 1990, 31 percent of students scored at or above the national norm in reading and 28 percent in math on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, said William G. Meuer, Norwood’s principal for five years. This year, 75.7 percent scored at or above the norm in reading and 84.2 percent in math.

One reason is students have time to relax and work off excess energy, Meuer said. At lunchtime, Norwood schedules five minutes for passing through the hallways, 20 minutes to eat, and about 20 minutes to play outdoors, visit the computer lab, school library or meet with clubs.

On a recent warm day, about 80 Norwood students scampered on a sun-drenched lawn, playing football and soccer and climbing on the school’s colorful playground equipment.

“Because our students don’t get physical activity with the PE teacher every day, [recess] provides another outlet,” Meuer said. “For some kids it means a social piece, for another child it’s a physical piece.”

Setting Priorities
In the 1960s, J.W. Smith was the football coach at John M. Harlan High School, 9652 S. Michigan Ave. in Roseland. Back then, physical education was “more structured,” he said.

Today, it’s a whole new ball game for Smith, now director of the Department of Physical Development and Health for the Chicago Public Schools. In an interview, he pointed to a May 20 Chicago Sun-Times banner: “School scores up again: City students improve 4th year in row.”

“This headline says a lot,” Smith said. “That’s what this whole push was about from this new administration: Raise the scores. You have to set priorities.”

Smith oversees physical education, health education, driver education, elementary and high school sports, and after-school activities. Each of the city’s 80 high schools has three to four physical education teachers, but two elementary schools may have to share one instructor, he said.

The number of children participating in after-school sports jumped from 22,326 in 1995 to 29,146 last year, said Ron L. Shields, the Chicago Public Schools’ elementary school sports administrator.

The Illinois School Code requires that all schools provide daily physical activity, said Tom Hernandez, principal communications consultant for the Illinois State Board of Education. But the code gives schools wide latitude, listing several purposes for physical education, such as “to develop organic vigor,” and “to develop desirable moral and social qualities.”

The Reporter survey found that 418 of the 462 elementary schools that responded offer physical education no more than twice a week. Only 25 have gym daily.

“The number of times a school has physical education is up to the creativity of the principal,” Smith said. “With all the subjects they have to cover on a daily basis, it’s difficult to free a period every day for physical education, art and music.”

Buckney said principals are “obviously not complying” if they are not providing daily physical education or activity. But she said she has no plans to follow up on the Reporter’s findings that many schools do not comply with the law. Buckney added that the system’s six regional education officers are responsible for overseeing compliance with school codes.

Some students are feeling the impact. Murray Language Academy’s annual walkathon on June 4 not only raised funds for the school, but raised questions about students’ health.

“We found out that we need to do a lot of physical activity,” said Virginia L. Vaske, principal for 14 years at Murray, 5335 S. Kenwood Ave. The school’s third- through eighth-graders walked about three miles in surrounding Hyde Park. “They moaned and groaned. Some had to stop and rest more than others,” she said.

“We need to look at our physical education program, meager as it is, and build in more aerobic activity and calisthenics, to help keep the kids in shape because they’re not. Their stamina stinks.”

Murray offers gym two to three times a week, she said. “We do think it’s important but state law says it’s supposed to be every single day. Somehow Chicago gets around that, and they don’t staff at the elementary schools to give PE every day.”

With 300 instructional minutes per day, there’s no time for recess, Murray said. “We couldn’t fit everything else in.”

Cutting Back
In February 1997, Chicago school officials proposed reducing the high school physical education requirement from four years to two by using a waiver provided in the Illinois school code. The state board approved Chicago’s waiver request on Feb. 26, 1997, and sent the application to the Illinois General Assembly in May 1997.

In their application, Chicago school officials said they wanted to eliminate the requirement because “students perform well below the national average in both reading and math. …” Board officials argued that “the undisputed facts … establish that no student in Illinois takes ‘daily’ physical education, even without a waiver. …”

Under state law, the waiver automatically took effect when the legislature failed to act on the measure. The Chicago Teachers Union sued, arguing that the waiver law was unconstitutional and that the plan would cut jobs. “Too many people have ignored the fact that PE is a very important tool to education—period,” union spokeswoman Jackie Gallagher said.

On May 12 Cook County Circuit Court Judge Sidney A. Jones ruled the waiver “is without legal effect.” The board will appeal the decision, Buckney said.

In some suburban and private schools, physical education gets higher priority. In northwest suburban Schaumburg District 54, one of the state’s largest school districts, each of the 22 elementary schools has a 40-minute lunch-period: 20 minutes to eat and 20 minutes of recess.

Students get 20 to 30 minutes of physical education every day, twice a week with a PE teacher and the rest of the days with their classroom teachers. The Schaumburg district is nearly 75 percent white, and about 4 percent low-income.

Students in the 10 schools in Chicago Heights District 170 get 30 minutes of physical education twice a week, once with a PE teacher and once with their classroom teacher. They exercise for 15 to 20 minutes in their classrooms on the other three days. District 170 is 86 percent minority and predominantly black; 80 percent are low-income.

The Archdiocese of Chicago, which oversees schools in Cook and Lake counties, requires 130 minutes per week of health and physical education and 330 minutes of instruction a day and may go beyond those requirements. All 163 Catholic elementary schools have at least 15 minutes of recess a day, said Sal Guccione, coordinator of administrative services for the Archdiocese’s Office of Catholic Education.

Fast Food
When a reporter asked who in Stamps’ class at Lewis had brought snacks to school, nearly every hand went up. Seventeen children said they spend between $2 and $3 a day on junk food, although 94 percent of Lewis students come from low-income families.

Depending on their age, kids require between 1,200 and 2,500 calories a day, said Van Horn of Northwestern. “A bag of chips or Cheetos is a fast, economical way to fill the void. … In a very small amount of food you get a lot of flavor, calories, fat and satisfaction.”

Lewis’ lunch program gets tepid reviews from these finicky students, who said the food is too greasy and the hamburgers are “pink.” Still, they conceded the food was better this year than last year when lunches “were like alley food and now it’s like jail food,” said Cierra Lee, 12.

Students also say the 20-minute lunch period is too short. “As soon as we sit down, they’re rushing us saying, ‘It’s time to go. It’s time to go. Get up. Get up,’” Howard said. “We don’t finish everything.”

The school board serves 300,000 lunches and 80,000 breakfasts each day, said Sue Susanke, manager of the Bureau of Food Services and Warehousing at the Chicago Public Schools. The meals typically total 800 calories, providing one-fourth to one-third of the recommended dietary allowance required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, she said.

“We realize that’s where [many students] get their daily calories, so we tend to give them more than less,” she said. “If we didn’t feed them in the public school system, sometimes these children wouldn’t eat.”

On May 12, students at Manierre got a hard-boiled egg, sausage patty and grape juice for breakfast. For lunch, they had a choice of macaroni and cheese with a dinner roll or a turkey super sub. The menu also included fruited gelatin, seasoned peas, yellow cake with white icing and fruit. The day’s meals totaled 659 calories.

After reviewing a public school menu for May, Van Horn said Chicago schools are providing a healthier selection than in the past, including more fiber and protein. But given the lack of physical activity in the schools, “fat and sodium in these menus is often excessive,” she said.

Fourteen girls in Stamps’ class agreed to weigh themselves for the Reporter, and their median weight was 115 pounds. For girls of their age, the median national weight is 86 to 90 pounds, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

“You can’t wait ’til 50 to take care of yourself because the damage has been done,” Stamps told her class. “If you put in your mind that huge woman that you hate to see getting on the bus because she can barely pick up one leg and she’s struggling, with all that fat just sitting around, y’all are like ‘Ooooo’. That can be you if you don’t take care of yourself. Your momma didn’t deliver a 700-pound person.”

Unhealthy Attitudes
Jerry Criswell, 17, who just completed his sophomore year at Spaulding High School, 1628 W. Washington Blvd., on the Near West Side, is 5’6” and weighs 400 pounds. At 9, his excess weight caused his legs to bow. Criswell has pins in his legs and suffers from diabetes. “I do care,” said Criswell as he signed up June 3 for Cook County Hospital’s summer Teen Fitness Program—for the third time. “I’m young and I can recover.” He aims to weigh 190 by graduation.

But obesity is hard to conquer, said Dr. Margo Bell, a pediatrician specializing in adolescent health at Cook County Hospital. Last summer, Criswell joined 19 other youths between the ages of 11 and 22 in the hospital’s 12-week program, which educates youngsters and their families about nutrition and exercise. The six-year effort serves 10 to 20 youths each year, Bell said.

And technological advances like the Internet and cable television have made today’s kids much more sedentary, said Tino Mantella, president of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, 801 N. Dearborn St.

From 1995 to 1997, the YMCA offered On Track, a state-funded intervention and prevention program targeted at overweight teens. The $100,000-a-year effort was part of the federal Healthy Start demonstration program funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Each year between 250 and 300 youngsters participated at five Chicago YMCA sites and one in northwest suburban Niles.
“The numbers are small given the need, but it worked well,” said Joyce R. Scott, YMCA director of social services.

But when the state reorganized several agencies to create the Department of Human Services in 1997, On Track lost its grant. The YMCA is looking for other funding. “The need is growing, not getting less,” Scott said. “You can’t wait until their 20s and 30s. You have to intervene early on.”

Nonprofits can help pick up the slack, Mantella said. The YMCA hopes to expand its swimming program, which contracts with 67 public elementary schools to provide lessons to students.
“If the schools see that we can play a role in that and support them, then we would love to do that,” Mantella said. “So rather than them building pools, we’d like to see them use our facilities.”

A Chicago Public School committee of teachers and nurses is finalizing a comprehensive school health lesson plan, which they hope to launch by fall, said Finnegan of Family Life and AIDS Education.

“We’re here to provide anything that we possibly can provide to help students so they can get a quality education,” said education chief Buckney. “But at some point it has to be acknowledged that we should not be doing this job alone.”

Contributing: Rebecca Anderson, Pamela A. Lewis and Danielle Gordon. Interns Ty Adams, Dwayne Ervin, Andrew Haas-Roche, Ylda Kopka, George Pence, Chanel Polk, Eleanor LeShore Smith and Tracy Van Slyke helped research this article.