American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance - AAHPERD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

AAHPERD Recognizes Let’s Move! West Virginia Active Schools Campaign for Getting Students up and Moving

January 19 Declared West Virginia Physical Activity Day; Thousands of Students Set to Participate

RESTON, VA, January 18, 2012---Let's Move in School (LMIS) congratulates the Let's Move! West Virginia Active Schools campaign for inspiring close to 70,000 students state-wide to participate in the upcoming West Virginia Physical Activity Day, this Thursday, January 19. The event is designed to raise awareness among students and parents on the importance of physical activity and maintaining an active lifestyle. LMIS, created by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) and in support of the First Lady's Let's Move! initiative to end childhood obesity within a generation, is a national education effort aimed at ensuring all students receive opportunities to be physically active before, during, and after school. The center piece of LMIS is a Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP), which focuses on creating and maintaining quality physical education programs in school systems nationwide.

The January 19th event will coincide with the unveiling of West Virginia's new physical activity plan called Active 2015 which supports healthy living and quality of life for every West Virginian. On this day, students in all grade levels from various counties in the state will take a break from the classroom and participate in a fun line dance called the Cupid Shuffle at 1 pm. To see the complete list of participating schools, visit the West Virginia Physical Activity Plan homepage.

"Currently, less than 20 percent of schools in the U.S. provide opportunities for students to be physically active throughout their day. It is our hope that West Virginia Physical Activity Day will serve as a model for other states to emulate so that physical education teachers will work with all aspects of their local school communities to increase physical activity by using our Let's Move in School resources," says AAHPERD President Brad Strand of North Dakota State University.

Since the launch of LMIS in 2010, more than 6,600 schools nationwide have registered.  Mary Foltz Weikle, coordinator of health and physical education for the West Virginia Department of Education, is the Let's Move in School Chair for the West Virginia Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance (WVAHPERD). The LMIS program is made up of the following components: physical education, physical activity before, during, and after school, staff involvement, and family and community involvement. Together, they make up a CSPAP.

Free online resources to help educators create a successful CSPAP program can be found by visiting the LMIS website at www.letsmoveinschool.org. AAHPERD has also created specifically tailored Let's Move in School Toolkits for physical education teachers, superintendents and school boards as well as PTA/PTOs.

Under LMIS, AAHPERD also produces a free webinar every month with real live examples from those in the field on successful physical activity programs and how educators and other school leaders are implementing the various aspects of the CSPAP. The next webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, February 8 and will focus on family and community involvement and schools that have benefited from community-based physical activity opportunities. It is sponsored by the U.S. Tennis Association.

Finally, more than 1,200 participants completed AAHPERD's first ever national Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program Survey earlier this year which revealed that 16 percent of elementary, 13 percent of middle, and 6 percent of high schools provide opportunities for physical activity before, during, and after school. The goal of the survey is to better understand how schools across the U.S. are implementing the components of a CSPAP at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. For more insight on the survey, read an abstract or full version of the survey report.

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Contact:
Paula Keyes Kun
pkun@aahperd.org
(703) 476-3461

AAHPERD, an alliance of five national associations, six district associations, and a Research Consortium, provides its members with a comprehensive and coordinated array of resources, support, and programs to help practitioners improve their skills to further the health and well-being of the American public. It is the largest organization of professionals involved in physical education, recreation, fitness, dance, health promotion and all specialties related to achieving an active, healthy lifestyle. AAHPERD serves 20,000 members and has its headquarters in Reston, Virginia, 25 miles west of Washington DC. To learn more, visit www.aahperd.org.