Haverhill Public Schools

High School PE classes notification: Please note that athletic fields at HHS are not open to the public during school hours 7:30am-2:30pm

According to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 2020, drowning was the leading cause of unintentional injury death among children; the 2nd leading cause of unintentional death nationally with about 10% of all fatal drownings in MA involving adolescents ages 15-24.  The Commonwealth elaborates that “for adolescents and adults, most drownings occur in natural bodies of water such as ocean, rivers, lakes and ponds;” all of which our students have easy access (Mass.gov April 2023).  We recognize that some students would rather not take the swimming portion of the PE program due to a variety of reasons.  Although learning to swim can be life saving, our course changes are considerate of other reasons for wanting to opt out and the Wellness Department has made other adjustments for this to work accordingly.

There were changes made to the PE1 curriculum in the 2024-2025 school year with regards to the swim expectation. The swim unit was removed for a week and was spent on water safety. Students who like to swim were encouraged to enroll in the Aquatic Activities course. Starting in the 2023-2024 school year, all students will be enrolled in PE1 and encouraged to swim.  There is an opt out option for the swim unit. The form will be sent home after the student begins the PE1 semester with a firm deadline to be returned within one week later. A parent/guardian signature is required and a reason, ONLY if the student is opting out of swimming. A phone call to the parent/guardian will be provided by the teacher to confirm the opt out choice. If we can not get in contact and a confirmation from the parent/guardian, the student will be required to participate in the swimming portion. If lack of swimwear is the issue, please contact your student’s PE teacher prior to opting out.

Those students who do not return the form or choose to participate in swimming will participate for approximately 4 weeks as part of the PE1 course which was reduced from 6 weeks. Teachers will share responsibility for the overflow of students if there are opt-outs and those students will be expected to join in another PE activity.  The opt out students will participate in a PE1 class not utilizing the pool and there will be a teacher instructing in the pool for those that choose the swimming component.