If approved by the TEA, Paradise ISD next year could offer secondary students the ability to earn PE credits through approved, off-campus programs. File/WCMessenger
Paradise ISD next year will likely offer off-campus physical education credits to students in grades 6-12.
The board of trustees Monday night approved the submission of an application to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to participate in the Off-Campus Physical Education (OCPE) program. If approved by TEA Commissioner Mike Morath, Paradise ISD would allow qualifying secondary students to substitute approved, off-campus physical activity programs for traditional high school PE courses.
According to the TEA, the district’s request to participate in the OCPE program will be finalized within five business days after submission.
TEA recognizes two types of OCPE participation:
“Olympic-Level,” designed for students participating in highly intensive training programs associated with national-level or Olympic-level competition.
“Private or Commercially Sponsored Physical Activity Programs,” designed for students participating in structured, high-quality physical activity programs provided by private or commercially sponsored organizations.
According to the TEA rubric, students in the Olympic-level category must be supervised a minimum of 15 hours per week, cannot be dismissed from more than one class period per day for the activity and cannot miss any other class besides a regularly scheduled PE course. Students in the private/commercially sponsored category (which is more common) must be supervised a minimum of 5 hours per week and cannot miss any part of the school day.
The conditions would have to be met every week that Paradise ISD is in session for the school year.
TEA gives authority to the superintendent to determine what constitutes a qualifying off-campus activity, based on quality of the off-campus instructors, facilities and how vigorous the activity is. Assistant superintendent Stephanie Quarles said that families applying for the OCPE program will have to provide “tons of information” for Paradise ISD to certify that the off-campus program is eligible.
“We started looking at other districts and what they use and utilize, and so we would put together kind of what that rubric looks like,” superintendent Robyn Gibson said. “If you say ‘yes,’ we’ll move forward with this and we’ll develop that and come back with it.”
Gibson said that the PE class is graded as “credit” or “no credit,” meaning students participating in the OCPE program would not be able to gain a GPA advantage by substituting outside participation for a school-sponsored course.
The item passed unanimously.
In other business, the board of trustees:
Revised the 2025-26 school calendar to accommodate for the early dismissal of school last week related to playoff baseball
Approved the submission of low attendance waivers for Feb. 9, 10 and 11 at the junior high, and May 11 at the high school
Revised authorized signatures/users at The Community Bank, TexPool and TexStar to add recently hired finance director Dalton Holly and remove operations assistant Kailynn Hudson
Voted to opt out of allowing participation of homeschool students in UIL activities