Worthington physical education teachers donned identical chartreuse T-shirts to make a neon-bright statement on wellness this week as school board members prepare to vote on Wellness 4 Life.

The Worthington school board met Monday, Nov. 23, at the Worthington Education Center.

Wellness 4 Life is the district's new physical education graded course of study, designed and written by physical education teachers George Brinegar, Jim Callahan, Donnell Johnson, Sheila Martin, Mario Paliotto, Margo Postak, Rob Smith, Jill Wiebell and Ben Wilson, under the guidance of Slate Hill Elementary School Principal Dan Girard.

Smith showed board members a PowerPoint presentation that included slides of students participating in physical education classes and asked the question, "What if we could help students live longer and feel better about themselves?"

The new course of study contains four pillars or goals, Smith said, including teaching the value of lifetime fitness; skill, development and strategy; character development; and wellness connections, which connect physical activity to other classrooms.

Postak said district teachers knew they would be designing a new course of study but decided to escalate the process.

"We felt the need to develop the program a year early due to the new state standards and the high rate of childhood obesity," she said. "It is our belief it is our job to educate kids on all they need to know to keep fit for a lifetime.

"As they progress through this program, they'll be able to master a sport or activity by their junior year of high school," she said.

Postak said assessment would be based on where a student begins the program and where he ends it.

"Whether a student is a good athlete or has no coordination, we have a program that can help them improve," she said. "It's a program in which every student can be successful."

Smith, who teaches at Liberty Elementary School, said the program enables him to have different levels of an activity going on at the same time.

"We've seen an incredible atmosphere where kids who are less advanced root for other students and students who are more advanced in an activity help out students who aren't at that level," he said.

Martin said the course also fosters connections with other classes.

"We tell teachers that instead of kids sitting in their seats for 30 or 40 minutes, maybe they should have a timeout to do some kind of lateral exercise to ignite activity in the brain," she said. "We've also thought about having a Wellness Wednesday or Fitness Friday where everyone in the district is doing something to stay fit on a Wednesday or Friday."

Martin said fitness should be a daily activity.

"We want students to get to the point where exercise is like brushing their teeth each day," she said. "They just wouldn't feel right if they didn't exercise that day."

Board members will vote formally on the new course of study at the board meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14 at the education center, 200 E. Wilson Bridge Road.