In order to thoroughly educate students on the importance of topics previously neglected in the old online health course, the Olathe public schools board of education has set in place a new required semester health class separate from physical education. This new change will be given to freshmen and the incoming classes.
“I really like [this new class] because the kids are actually able to interact with other students, as opposed to just interacting with their device and having to sit with their device in quiet silence,” PE teacher Nate Harrison said.
With the change from a gym floor and a laptop to a classroom setting with desks and papers, the new transition has been an adjustment.
“I haven’t been in a typical classroom setting for probably eight years, but it’s challenging me as an educator, and that’s what we always try to do is be challenged on a day to day basis,” Harrison said.
PE teacher Catherine Miller has her frustrations for the district leaving health teachers scrambling to build lesson plans.
“I think the biggest frustration is that we, as teachers, were given the curriculum three days before school started. We got the books the day before school started, so we really didn’t have any ample opportunity to make lesson plans beforehand,” Miller said.
Along with the difficulties of being unprepared, feelings of relief also come with the struggles.
“Not having lesson plans etched out in advance was very frustrating, but now I’m in a [groove], so it’s going along much smoother,” Miller said.
PE and weights teacher Jacee Kramer helps bring insight to what the new health course could entail. 
“The different topics [vary from] mental, emotional, physical, like everything, it’s how you live. So it applies to every single student. So I think that the focus on making it its own class is very beneficial, because it allows more time to go into those topics,” Kramer said.
The new course has more resources than what was previously given, students will get a better understanding of what is being taught.
“I think that the outlines that they have provided us with in the textbook and the resources it’s going to allow for more transfer of information to the students,” Kramer said.
Family and Consumer Science teacher Kristin Fulps feels that this new course will provide a beneficial experience with hopes for the future.
“I think it allows it to be more in depth, and hopefully students will get more out of it, as opposed to doing just a week long, independent, computer based [course], it’s more interactive,” Fulps said.
With health class being a semester long course, the benefits to this class will create new ways to adapt different practices into everyday life.
“You’re learning life skills, and it’s not rocket science, but it is something that you will use for the rest of your life. And if you want to live a helpful life, you will learn the skills in this class to do that,” Fulps said.
Senior Erika Cartwright preferred the online based health learning system that was implemented in previous years.
“I think realistically I liked Edgenuity more for [the] information. It would have been nice to get a semester, [but] I did [all the learning] in one night and called it a day,” Cartwright said.
Even though Cartwright preferred the online courses she does believe that the new health class will be better for incoming students and freshmen.
“I think it’ll be more beneficial because they’re actually getting knowledge. I also heard they’re getting like guest speakers, which is nice,” Cartwright said.
Freshman Brooklyn Becker acknowledges that this new health class is different from what she previously experienced in a better and more involved way.
“It’s changed [from] being a part of PE into being an actual class, and it’s a lot easier [with it] being a class, [since] you only focus on health instead of other things,” Becker said.
The new formatting for materials has been made easier for collaboration and has given students the ability and opportunity to work on other subjects when they finish with the materials.
“Most of the time you finish the worksheets at the beginning of class and then it’s like a free period for the rest of the class,” Becker said.
Junior Hayden Sims preferred the online course teaching for the simplicity and the amount of information it shared.
“I feel like they gave us all the information that we needed, and it did help a lot,” Sims said.
Sims even states that this new semester course could be more harmful than good.
“I think it’s bad. so much time spent on one subject could be wasted, but yet it [could] still [be] good but not for a whole semester,” Sims said.
Freshman Jack Addleman is intrigued and supports the new health class reform.
“I [like that] we do more projects surrounding health, and [that] we have a separate class for the semester about health. I like it more because we get to know more about what we need to do to keep our bodies healthy,” Addleman said.
When given the choice, Addleman would rather do the informative semester long class over the short spanned computer course.
“I [like] what we’re doing now because we’re learning more about exercising and keeping our bodies safe from harmful things,” Addleman said.
