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Contact: Alex Greenwood 816-756-3580 ext. 4270

The Rise and Fall of Physical Education in Schools Covered in "Generation XL"

Premieres Thursday, Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. on KCPT

(KANSAS CITY)—Nationally, rising obesity rates are saddling children with health conditions that were once reserved exclusively for adults. January 31, KCPT launches an extraordinary series of programs that examine the obstacles and challenges facing schools in their battle against sedentary lifestyles and bad eating habits and goes on a search for solutions.

Premiering Thursday Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. Nick Haines hosts GENERATION XL: The Rise and Fall of PE in Schools. On this first installment in the series, more than a dozen health, education, political and community leaders take on what some say has become an endangered species in America's school system: physical education classes.

"Many of these fitness and nutrition policies made a lot of sense as they were incrementally developed over the past fifty years or so," said Michael Zeller, vice president of education at KCPT. "But now we see that, taken in their entirety, they are unintentionally contributing to the soaring obesity rate we see in our children and all the misery that will come from that."

The New England Journal of Medicine claims childhood obesity will now create the first generation of American kids whose average life span will be shorter than that of their parents. There are a slew of factors driving this downward health spiral, but many experts agree that there is one place where policy changes could quickly yield sustained positive results: our schools. Children are in the care of schools for a majority of their waking day and many children also consume a majority of their meals at school.

Unfortunately, school nutrition and physical fitness policies are often the result of shortsighted decisions, misplaced priorities and competing interests. Only eight percent of elementary schools and six percent of the nation's middle and high schools are meeting approved government goals for weekly exercise. Illinois is the only state that requires daily PE in every grade. In Kansas, state mandates are so loose there is nothing requiring seventh or eighth graders to take any form of physical exercise during the school day.

Every two months over the course of twelve months, KCPT will broadcast a new episode that will explore school policies relating to children's nutrition in the cafeteria, vending machines, school parties and even fundraisers. It will also examine aspects of fitness including PE, recess and the barriers against children walking to school.

"This issue is so important, we recommend that teachers, school board members, concerned parents, health and wellness advocates, kids—anyone with a stake in the future health of our children—watch this series," Zeller added.

This metrowide consciousness raising and search for solutions will also be joined at various places in the effort by KCPT's media partners KCUR radio and the Kansas City Star.

This fall, KCPT will also broadcast a documentary about PE4Life. PE4Life was founded in January 2000 as a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring active, healthy living by advancing the development of quality, daily physical education programs for all children.

Funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, GENERATION XL: The Rise and Fall of PE in Schools premieres Monday, January 31 at 8 p.m. with five other episodes airing throughout the school year, culminating in a documentary airing in November.

--KCPT--