June 9, 2017 Action Update:  As you know, NCAAHPERD-SM has been actively involved at the state level in encouraging the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to reflect the intent of the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in the areas of health education, physical education, and physical activity opportunities.

Please Take Action! For example, we recently learned a new draft of the state’s ESSA plan will be released in the next two weeks. While this is not the only opportunity to submit comments, we strongly encourage NCAAHPERD-SM members to express their personal voices now: Today, Tomorrow, and for the next two weeks!

Action Step #1: Craft a short personal statement that is unique to your specific teaching situation and save this as a PDF to be uploaded to the NCDPI “Let’s Talk” Portal.  Please include your name, school, years taught, etc. in your short personal statement and several of the bullets in the  “ESSA COMMENTS TALKING POINTS” Sheet.

• Here’s the ink to the “ESSA COMMENTS TALKING POINTS” Sheet.

Action Step #2: Request two items:

• Ask NCDPI to make health and physical education a priority in the ESSA Plan.
• Request NCDPI to measure the number of minutes provided for health & physical education via the existing Healthy Active Children Policy or using CDC’s School Health Index.

Action Step #3: Upload your short personal statement to NCDPI’s “Let’s Talk” Portal. 

• Go to: http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/newsroom/lets-talk/
• Scroll to the bottom and click on the “Every Student Succeeds Act”
• Choose "comment"
• Fill in the subject and description with your comments
• Attached your comments in a PDF
• Please email Aimee Scott, NCAAPERD-SM Executive Director (aimee@ncaahperd-sm.org) so we can keep track of our numbers.

Thank You! As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for your continued help and support!

Special Note: Please use accepted good practices such as using your personal email address (not a school email) and not submitting while at school or during school hours.  Thanks again!