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Congressman Paul Tonko announced federal grants for two Upstate New York school districts to enhance their physical education programs. The funding, awarded by the United States Department of Education in the amount of $1,347,779, will benefit programs in the Greater Amsterdam School District ($633,071) and the South Colonie Central School District ($714,708). A total of approximately 9,000 students will be impacted by the grants.

“A strong physical education is critical to our state’s ability to provide a well-rounded education to Capital Region students,”said Tonko. “These grants will ensure that our children will have the opportunity to build strong bodies as well as strong minds. I thank Jason Semo and Susan Stoya and their teams for their hard work to secure these grants for our schools.”

The Carol M. White Physical Education Program provides grants to Local Education Agencies and community-based organizations to initiate, expand, or enhance physical education programs, including after-school programs, for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Grant recipients must implement programs that help students make progress toward meeting state standards.

“Funding will be used to revamp the entire curriculum for grades K-12, using technology and other resources we have not previously been able to afford.  5,000 students will be impacted.  We will be able to evaluate and engage students more effectively to focus more on nutrition and lifetime fitness,”said Jason Semo, Director of Physical Education and Athletics, South Colonie Central School District.

“Due to budget constraints in our district, it has been challenging to purchase resources for physical education and provide professional development for physical education staff.  This grant will allow us to purchase a variety of fitness equipment for all the schools in the district, K-12, impacting 4,000 students.  We will focus on nutrition and fitness for life, which includes a significant data collection and analysis component to document student progress,”said Susan Stoya, Director of Secondary Instruction, Greater Amsterdam School District.

The award amounts announced today are for the first budget period (07/01/2013 through 06/30/2014) of a 36-month award period.  Additional funds will be awarded contingent upon the demonstration of substantial progress each year toward meeting project goals and objectives, and the availability of future funding.

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