Unless I pay $300-$400 out of my pocket each year and an additional $500 every other year, I can no longer allow community members to participate in my health and fitness program at my school. To this end, Ive decided to write to local and state leadership to engage them in problem solving these policies...here is a draft of my letter... -------------- My name is Alex Johnson-Jimenez. I’m a National Board Certified Teacher at East San Jose Elementary School and an ISSA Certified Professional Trainer. I am writing to request a review of existing district policy regarding building usage fees and liability insurance for community fitness programs. For the past four years, I have been volunteering my time, knowledge, professional skills, and money as a fitness expert for our East San Jose community. By community, I refer not only to onsite school staff, but staff from City Center, other schools, families of students at East San Jose, local business members, and others who live near and far from our school. Participants have learned about the program by word of mouth and some heard about it when I was featured as the Hero of the Week on the local Univision news in 2013. For the past four years, I’ve been offering our community a multitude of health and fitness services including: • Strength and Cardio Training • HIIT and Tabata • Circuit/Interval Training • Body Composition Analysis • Nutritional plans and support • Presentations on Diabetes, Fat vs Weight Loss, Reading Nutritional Labels, Lifestyle Changes vs Diets, Injury Recovery, etc. Our classes have been offered three times a week (twice during the week and on Saturday mornings) and boot camps during Winter, Spring, and Summer breaks. Our classes began with eight participants, including three staff members and five parents of current students. As of October 2014, we have 67 participants attending classes. All participants signed waivers releasing liability and acknowledgement of risks. At the onset of the program, I purchased the majority of the equipment with personal funds. As we grew larger, of their own free will, participants began donating small amounts. It was understood that the funds were to be used not as financial compensation for my time or work but to add and replace equipment as necessary. This program has significantly impacted the health and wellbeing of the participants and has also augmented a sense of community, centered at the school. Staff members have routinely informed me that their WellCall screenings have markedly improved from participation in my program and that their screeners were shocked at their results. Families have indicated that they are more active with their children and have started taking part in physical activities at the school and participated in city and nationwide activities such as the Duke City Marathon, Dirty Dash, and Warrior Dash. Participants have told me that their lives feel transformed by becoming healthier for themselves, their families, and as role models for their children and students. Parents of current students have told me that they feel more connected to the school because of their participation in this program and that they have gotten to know other parents and staff members because of their participation. Individuals who attend who are not affiliated with the school have commented that this program is a positive thing that APS is doing for the community. As of November 09, 2014, I have ceased offering these classes. In August of 2014, our new administrator, Denise Sandy-Sanchez, informed me that my health and fitness classes were likely in violation of district policy. The violations included the following: 1. If I accepted donations to replace equipment, I would have to pay a fee of $100 per hour for the use of the gym; that totals $500 per week. 2. If I offered health and fitness classes to ANYONE other than current school staff, I would have to obtain my own personal liability insurance with a minimum coverage of $1 million. Information regarding my health and fitness classes and possible violations of district policy were submitted to the Chief Administrative Assistance in the Chief Operations Office and to the Wellness Manager for their review. On November 9, 2014, I was informed that my health and fitness classes were indeed in violation of district policy. If I wanted to continue I had to: 1. Offer classes ONLY to school staff. 2. If parents or community members outside of school staff participated, I would need to secure my own personal liability insurance. 3. I could not accept donations for replacing equipment. If I accepted donations, I would have to turn in the funds to the school and pay a building usage fee of $25-$100 per hour. I have donated much of my time and my money to what I consider my service for the East San Jose community. My classes have provided FREE access to health and fitness classes that many individuals could not otherwise afford. In addition to the physical wellbeing of the participants, classes had become a unique place where individuals of vastly different socioeconomic status, gender, race, religion, and fitness levels enjoyed a shared experience and interacted as a community. Participants supported and encouraged one another. We celebrated our time together, taking down barriers and revitalizing our school community experience. For this experience, I am willing to obtain personal liability insurance and maintain my licensure as an ISSA Personal Trainer, which will total approximately $800 every other year and $300-$400 on the off years. However, I am unwilling to pay the school $125 to $500 per week to use the gym when I feel that this program benefits staff, parents, and the reputation of the school in the community. I am also unwilling to exclude participants and limit the program to only ESJ staff members. The philosophy of this program has been to bring fitness opportunities to individuals who would otherwise not have access to gyms. Charging participants a fee would negate this philosophy. While having to discontinue my program is truly disheartening, I believe it is an opportunity to engage in meaningful transformative dialogue. I see it as an opportunity to discuss as a school district how we see the role of schools and teachers in public health and education. To this end I propose the Phoenix Initiative-Rise Up and Define Yourself. • What if we (city, school districts, board of education, state of New Mexico) offered to train a volunteer at each elementary school to become a certified personal trainer or found a certified personal trainer from the community? • What if each trainer agreed to offer their skills and knowledge free of charge to school staff, families, and community members from the surrounding area? • What if we (city, school districts, board of education, state of New Mexico) paid this individuals personal liability insurance so that he/she could serve the aforementioned population or extended existing insurance policies to cover this individual? • What if our local schools became community schools that offer free fitness training and health education to everyone in the area? • How transformative would it be to have every elementary school in Albuquerque be a place dedicated to community health? • What impact could we make on public health and childhood obesity by providing education about healthy lifestyles and empowering parents to become healthy role models for their children? We have the opportunity to transform the role of schools in our communities from that of a local school to that of a community school. We strive to tear down social, economic, cultural, and religious barriers within our schools. We now have the opportunity to extend these messages of equality, collaboration, and social justice to the greater community. East San Jose has been a model of this vision for the past four years, providing a non-threatening, nonjudgmental environment for people to reach their health goals. I would like to see our program continue as it has for the past four years. I also have a vision that other schools would develop similar programs, integrating APS schools into the local community in a tangible way. I have shared with you my larger vision for APS and for our community as a whole. I am asking that this vision begin locally with my program. I ask that you review the policy regarding the use of school facilities for community programs. I am asking for my program to be allowed use of the gym without charge to provide these classes to staff, parents, and other community members. I am also asking for some assistance problem-solving the costs to me in maintaining personal liability insurance, ISSA certification, and replacing equipment. I ask that either APS reimburses me for these costs or that I be allowed to accept donations from participants to partially reimburse these costs. Together, I believe we have the opportunity to impact the health of our children and our community. Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter. Please feel free to contact me at alexjj26@gmail or (505) 710-2669 to discuss my ideas further or answer questions about my fitness program.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 18:39:14 +0000
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