• Health and Wellness
     
    ST. LOUIS, MO. August 20, 2012 – The St. Louis Public School District has received $744,987.00 for the first year of a  three-year grant issued by the U.S. Department of Education’s Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP) to provide physical education and nutrition education at the District’s elementary schools. SLPS is the only school district in Missouri to receive this grant.

     

    According to the release issued by the U.S. Department of Education, grant recipients must implement programs that help students make progress toward meeting their state standards for physical education. The programs must offer instruction in healthy eating habits and good nutrition. Among the types of activities that the grants support is instruction in motor skills that support a lifelong healthy lifestyle, and opportunities for professional development for teachers of physical education to stay abreast of the latest research and trends in the field of physical education.

     

    As a recipient of the Carol M. White Physical Education Program grant, the St. Louis Public School District will use the funds to fully implement the District’s AIM for Fitness curriculum program.

     

    Developed in 2009, the AIM for Fitness curriculum program was created out of a need to find new ways to address the alarming and growing incidence of obesity and obesity-related diseases, particularly among children in urban environments, and the profound and serious disconnects for these students regarding the cause and effect relationship between health and fitness practice and lifetime outcomes.  The overarching goal of AIM for Fitness is to increase the overall health and fitness of students while empowering them to become active and positive decision-makers in their own health and fitness learning.

     

    The AIM for Fitness curriculum program will be implemented by a strong partnership between the District and Washington University School of Medicine, Healthy Youth Partnership, BJC HealthCare, the St. Louis Rams Foundation, the Parsons Blewett Memorial Fund, and the City of St. Louis Department of Health. It will serve all of the District’s elementary schools, with a focus on grades 4 and 5.

     

    For more information please contact the Office of Public Information at (314) 345-2367.

     

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