Monday night’s District 202 Board of Education meeting was highlighted by discussion about the inclusion of physical education in the calculation of students’ grade point averages, and Evanston Township High School’s failing status, according to the No Child Left Behind Act.

But the board postponed voting on both of these issues to a future meeting.

Although physical education classes at ETHS require written assignments and other standard classroom work, performance in P.E. currently is not reflected in students’ grade point averages.

The board expressed strong support of a reversal of this policy.

“It won’t hurt the top students, but it might level the playing field,” said Marilyn Madden, assistant superintendent.

During the district’s most recent curriculum meeting, there was “universal support” for including P.E. in G.P.A. calculations, according to Board Member Omar Khuri.

On Monday night, ETHS student Ian Finder voiced the only opposition to the change, explaining that the school’s top students already have enough on their plates that they shouldn’t be preoccupied with their grades in physical education classes.

He also took issue with Khuri’s claim that the board has the support of the student body with regard to the decision.

“I do not know a single (student) who checks the ETHS Web site,” Finder said. “Most students are oblivious to what goes on in this room.”

Despite their agreement, the board decided to postpone voting on the issue because they originally stated that they would hear public opinion until Nov. 3.

Later in the meeting, the board discussed ETHS’ failure to meet federally-mandated guidelines, called Adequate Yearly Progress, under No Child Left Behind, for the fifth consecutive year.

This year, the school failed to meet standards in seven of 12 categories measured by the government, including black, Latino, disabled and low-income students.

Judith Levinson, ETHS’ director of research, evaluation and assessment, presented a bill from the National School Boards Association, identifying flaws with No Child Left Behind. The bill was given to school boards across the nation to generate a consensus against the policy passed by Congress in 2001.

District 202 is one of the only districts in the state that did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress for all five years of the act’s existence.

The board members agreed there was a need for District 202 to publish a critical opinion of No Child Left Behind.

“(No Child Left Behind) puts the entire burden on the administrations of individual schools,” Khuri said. “It is irresponsible, at best, and I could think of other adjectives, too.”

After lengthy discussion, Board President Martha Burns scheduled a closed meeting, to be held prior to the next public meeting, to discuss the district’s intended action to publicly address No Child Left Behind’s flaws and to improve the school’s test scores.

The next public meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5 at ETHS, 1600 Dodge Ave.

Reach Sean Walsh at [email protected].