Dodgeball, PE Curriculum Could See 11-Member Review Committee

As part of a second review of the school district's physical education curriculum, including "human target" games, a special committee consisting of 11 members will be recommended by the district administration on Tuesday.

The Windham School Board decided to take a second look at the PE curriculum on April 16 after several students came forward to petition the board to reinstate dodgeball.

A total of 10 games, including dodgeball, were removed from the district curriculum by a 4-1 board vote on March 19. Board member Dennis Senibaldi was the lone dissenting vote.

The decision was made based on the position taken by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), which does not support human target games in a K-12 curriculum.

District staff members are recommending three community volunteers, three students, three professional staff members and two from the district leadership team participate in the committee.

According to a document outlining the recommendation, the committee will be charged with reviewing the findings of the original district study. The committee would then present its new findings and recommenda tions to the school board no later than June 18.

A timeline is also included in the document, which includes the following:

Fall 2013: Begin reviewing district curriculum documents

Thorough monthly Vertical Team meetings continue to review and write district curriculum documents.

Winter 2014: Provide first draft to school teams for review and feedback.

Spring 2014: Complete final draft and submit to the Windham School Board for approval.

Summer 2014: Create and/or revise Common Summative Assessments to align with new curriculum.

The goal, according to the document, is to address the short-term concern about the elimination of the 10 human target games and the long-term goal of updating the physical education curriculum on a K-12 basis.

The March decision to remove dodgeball from the curriculum received national attention after getting picked up by the Associated Press.