Revere P.E. Wins Petrick Award

There are not many schools at which an entire department can be recognized as ‘exceptional,’ but Paul Revere Charter Middle School was given that distinction in February, when its Physical Education department was chosen as one of five winners of the Lori Petrick Teaching Award, presented by the Palisades Charter Schools Foundation. The honor is given annually to educators for achieving excellence in education within the Palisades Charter Complex of schools. To be eligible for the award, the teacher or teachers must submit a 2,000 word essay or a video and then be judged by a panel of distinguished educators. Parents have been praising Revere’s P.E. program for several years and after evaluating their application and viewing the school’s teachers in action, the judges agreed’giving them and the program perfect 10s (the highest score possible). ‘As educators, we continue to touch the hearts, minds, and lives of students in far-reaching ways that can transform a future of failure to a life of success,’ Revere’s teachers wrote in their application. ‘We believe that by providing these unique experiences, children are able to reach and learn beyond the instructional goals of the typical classroom. Understanding that some goals cannot be fully measured immediately, we continue to plant the seeds of integrity, honesty, respect, self discipline, and responsibility.’ Revere’s P.E. department, which includes Ron Brumel, Paul Foxson, Michelle Hernandez, Justin Koretz, Marty Lafolette, Ray Marsden, and Holli Omori, received the following written praise from the judges: ‘This is an ‘all thumbs up’ fitness program during a time when obesity is a serious concern both statewide and nationally.’ The judges also cited the department’s ‘high fitness scores statewide and the observable enthusiasm that the kids had while in P.E. class.’ In addition to physical fitness (students take P.E. five days a week, and are required to dress), the P.E. department requires a minimum amount of community service from all students and has intertwined several character education programs into its daily curriculum. Members of Revere’s P.E. staff spoke to the Palisadian-Post one afternoon after school before they took the field for a student/faculty soccer game. “We were excited to win, because we have a great program and it was nice to be acknowledged,’ Omori said. ‘We strive for every student to be successful, not just the athlete or those who are gifted in P.E. When students walk out of the class, they feel good about themselves because they’ve had some success.’ Although each teacher has his or her own unique style, they work well as a group. ‘We get along so well,’ Koretz said. ‘All of us truly enjoy our jobs. We all like to come to school.’ ‘We have passion for our work,’ Lafolette added. ‘We think about work even when we’re not here.’ ‘We care about the kids and being physically fit,’ Hernandez chimed in. ‘We all take academics and athletics seriously.’ The program also continues to try new sports so that every student graduating from Paul Revere will leave with at least two activities to continue the rest of their lives. Some of the activities they use to engage all students are: wrestling, dancing, volleyball, soccer, basketball, flag football, dodge ball, soft ball and track events, to name a few. The teachers live the ‘talk.’ They are also all physically fit. Four of the men play together on a softball team once a week and all participate in the various teacher/student faculty games in addition to their individual exercises. When the judges viewed the teachers in actions, the seven didn’t prepare special lessons. ‘We never changed our normal routine,’ Lafolette admitted. ‘We did what we do everyday.’ About five years ago, there was a change of staffing in the P.E. Department. ‘We became more cohesive and started working together,’ Omori said. Koretz also credits the parents. ‘Parent involvement got everything going,’ he said. ‘Then Sports Mania came in and donated the track facilities, which helped build the running program.’ All seven teachers have their master’s degrees, all participated in different sports and each comes from a different region of the country. ‘We bring sports that we were taught growing up to this school,’ said Marsden, who is from Boston and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut (graduating No. 1 in his class). He has a master’s in sports pedagogy and has coached football at the high school level. He now teaches football and softball at Revere. Receiving her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Cal State Los Angeles is Michelle Hernandez, who played basketball at Rio Hondo College. She has coached cross country and track at the high school level and is a part-time instructor at Cal State L.A.. By contrast, Lafolette grew up surfing everyday on the island of Maui and spent four years as a rescue swimmer in the U.S. Coast Guard. His undergraduate and master’s degrees are from San Diego State. He helps coach football, but also runs Revere’s PEP soccer program. The sole Hoosier on the staff, Omori received a full basketball scholarship to Colorado State University, where she earned her bachelor’s in exercise sports science and her master’s in education. She received a second master’s degree in physical education from Cal State Dominguez Hills. She coached collegiate basketball for several years at the Division I level but felt she spent too much of her time recruiting. Since she did student teaching at middle school, she liked the age and moved back with the students. Omori coaches the varsity boys basketball team at Revere and, like Hernandez, also teaches at Cal State L.A. The founder and director of the on-profit organization, D.R.E.A.M.S. (Developing a Responsible, Educated and Moral Society), Koretz grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a law and society undergraduate degree and a master’s in Educational Administration. His non-profit organization not only helps adolescents take an active community service role, but also offers college scholarships to students who have achieved academic success, participated in community service or demonstrated high levels of ethical behavior. Paul Foxson was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from the University of North Carolina with degrees in biology and chemistry and holds a master’s in educational administration. Foxson is a two-time collegiate All-American in track and field and was the No. 1-ranked decathlete in the United States. He and his wife Stacy started the successful Sports Mania camp, which runs every summer at Revere. Hailing from Oregon is Ron Brumel, who ran cross country at the University of Oregon, where he received his degree. He teaches the adaptive P.E. program at Revere as well as at other LAUSD schools. He is also the cross country and track coach at Palisades High School. The P.E. teachers are all appreciative of PRIDE, the parent’s organization at Paul Revere. ‘The funding has helped give us equipment and helps maintain the facility,’ Foxson said. The obstacle course at Paul Revere was recently built and next on the wish list (after continuing to improve the fitness level of the students) is a running track. ‘We’d like to install it on the perimeter of the playing fields’that would be ideal,’ Koretz said. Revere’s coaches take donations of new, gently-used ‘everything’ like footballs, jump ropes, and basketballs. Two other long-term goals they have are finding funding to get the tennis courts refurbished and installing permanent soccer goals on the fields. With their enthusiasm, energy and vision of building character in every child at Revere, it is easy to see why the seven members of the P.E. Department received ’10’s’ and were chosen for a Lori Petrick award.