Overview

The health and physical education (HPE) department is composed of elementary and secondary HPE specialists who serve all schools and centers. Our mission is to contribute to each student’s growth and development in the physical, cognitive, and social domains through a movement-based curriculum.

This will involve a unified approach to education (parents, community, and school) coupled with the delivery of a planned, sequential K-12 instructional curriculum that teaches the Georgia Standards of Excellence, content and skills necessary to exemplify good health and maintain a physically active lifestyle. Quality health and physical education instruction involves the whole child by providing psychomotor, cognitive, and affective benefits.

Important Information

  • Georgia Standards of Excellence health and physical education courses
  • All schools are strongly recommended to incorporate thirty minutes of daily physical education.
  • A student unable to participate in physical activity for 3 or more days should submit a note from their physician. Limitations for injuries (i.e. broken limbs, severe burns, etc.) should be listed. If the student does not present a note, the principal may use discretion in handling the situation.
  • All physical education specialists will utilize the state-mandated FITNESSGRAM® assessment for grades one through twelve to evaluate their students’ fitness levels.
  • Outdoor instruction may occur when the temperature is forty-one degrees or higher. Staff shall consider the wind-chill factor when planning outdoor instructional activities.
  • All K-5 students shall have at least fifteen minutes of supervised, unstructured break time each day. Breaks shall not be withheld from students for disciplinary or academic reasons.
  • Supervised, unstructured breaks may be provided for students in grades 6-8 at the discretion of the principal.
  • All high school students are required to take Health (0.5 Carnegie unit), Personal Fitness (0.5 Carnegie unit) and one additional physical education elective (1.0 Carnegie unit) to meet graduation requirements.

Elective Exemption for 9-12 Graders

Health and Physical Education is a requirement for graduation.

Criteria to Exempt One Unit of Physical Education

  • 135 practice or activity hours beyond the school day will be required to exempt 1 Carnegie unit of physical education. Documentation is required.
  • 65 practice or activity hours beyond the school day will be required to exempt 1/2 Carnegie of physical education. Documentation is required.
  • Activity hours will only be accepted for DeKalb County School District sponsored activities.

Students may exempt the additional physical education unit by participating in the following approved school-sponsored activities:

Approved Non-State Funded Activities

(*) Not offered at all schools
  • Marching Band
  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Cheerleading
  • Cross Country
  • Dance Teams*
  • Drill Teams*
  • Flag Football*
  • Flag Squad*
  • Football
  • Golf
  • Gymnastics
  • Ice Hockey*
  • Lacrosse
  • Majorettes
  • One Act Play*
  • Performance Theatre*
  • Pep Squad*
  • Soccer
  • Softball
  • Step Team*
  • Swim/Dive
  • Tennis
  • Track
  • Ultimate Frisbee*
  • Volleyball
  • Wrestling
Note: Performance Theater only applies to students that attend the following schools: DeKalb School of the Arts, DeKalb Early College Academy and Elizabeth Andrews High School. These schools do not offer an athletics program. Therefore, these are the only students that will be eligible to meet the graduation requirement by successfully completing the Performance Theater course.
Approved State Funded Courses
  • JROTC
  • Dance

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