To keep pace with state education mandates, the school board at Les Cheneaux Community Schools approved recommendations from Superintendent Amy Scott to add a full- time physical education teacher and rearrange some staff responsibilities for the 2012- 2013 school year. Course listings and a proposal of the staff ’s responsibilities were also approved Monday, January 16. Next year ’s schedule will place increased emphasis on physical education, foreign languages, and the sciences.

Mrs. Scott will continue to finetune the daily schedule right up until the date the final version must be submitted, Monday, February 20.

Designing a schedule around state instruction targets has been an exercise in creativity, Mrs. Scott said. It is especially difficult for small schools with small staffs. Teachers must be versatile and, in some cases, will need to pick up new skills.

The tentative 2012- 2013 schedule was approved with the expectation that middle school social studies teacher Scott Barr will work toward qualification to teach Spanish, for example. This will allow for two sections of first- year Spanish classes next year and help meet the new state requirement that all students take two years of a foreign language.

Only 30% of Les Cheneaux students are now enrolled in the first year of a foreign language and 15% are taking a second year. Students now take foreign language courses via remote interactive television classes or the Florida and Michigan virtual classrooms on the Internet.

Having a teacher in the school would be a tremendous benefit to the students, Mrs. Scott said, since one- on- one interaction is among the most effective ways to learn a new language.

The addition of a physical education teacher now, rather than later, is in anticipation of a mandate that will require schools to provide 90 minutes of physical education every week, part of a state initiative to improve health and fitness. Governor

Rick Snyder has noted that 32% of Michigan’s total population is considered obese.

The effort will continue to extend into Michigan’s public schools. Thus far, there have been changes to the nutrition requirements of school meals and a shift toward healthy options in vending machines. A call for increased physical activity and more instruction on healthy lifestyle choices is just around the bend, Mrs. Scott said.

Athletic Director David Duncan and special education teacher Jill McLeod both teach physical education classes now. One more physical education teacher would allow Mr. Duncan more time to focus on his duties as athletic director and would allow Mrs. McLeod to spend more time with Title 1/ Reading Recovery assignments.

Board member Leslie Freel said there is room for improvement in this area even without a state requirement.

Science instruction must better prepare students for the standardized tests, Mrs. Scott said. Instruction will shift from memorization of concepts, vocabulary, and facts to learning the tenets of inquirybased thinking, which includes collecting and analyzing data.

New science offerings that will incorporate these methods include advanced biology, forensic science, and an integrated course in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, known in education circles as STEM.

The board approved the plans for next year by a 5- 1 vote.

Board member Luke Jaroche was concerned about the economics of hiring a new teacher for a maximum cost of $53,000 per year, including benefits. Business manager

Kris Hill assured him the district can sustain the cost for at least three years, but Mr. Jaroche said he felt the money should be saved as a cushion to a stretched budget.