As rates of child obesity mushroom nationwide, some area schools have turned that trend around in South Dakota. These schools have provided their students with weekly or daily physical education classes for elementary and middle school students, along with daily recesses for the younger set.

Those 15-minute to hour-long physical fitness breaks can be as important in adulthood as they are for students, according to Kristin Biskeborn, state nutritionist with the South Dakota Department of Health.

"It's a stress reducer, regardless of our age," she said.

The School Height and Weight Report for South Dakota Students for 2006-2007 will be released in mid-March, according to the department. The study will reveal the current overweight and obesity rates of children attending public schools throughout South Dakota.

Biskeborn said it is the 10th year of tracking childhood obesity in the state. Since 2003, the department has given nearly 600 measuring boards and scales to schools to help in the state survey.

While not willing to release the new results until the schools receive the study next month, Biskeborn did say that since the department began taking the survey a decade ago, South Dakota has tracked with the national weight trends.

"South Dakota has seen an increase in childhood obesity," she said.

Biskeborn says that typically, children in the general population are doing better at maintaining a healthy weight than adults in the state.

"For all age groups, there are more adults who are obese than there are children. The incline (percentage of weight gain) for adults is increasing at a faster rate than it is for children," she said.

But there are schools that are reversing the trend by lowering or decreasing their rates of obesity, according to the 2005-2006 study. Among those are Douglas Middle School in Box Elder and South Park Elementary in Belle Fourche.

Douglas Middle School has an obesity rate that falls more than 4 percent below the state average. The school boasts a semester-long physical education course with two instructors to keep the 300 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students in the class active.

Physical education teacher Bob Reynolds says Douglas Middle School has participated in the state obesity study since its inception.

Along with a school gymnasium, the school also has a fitness room filled with stationary bicycles and treadmills. It has proven to be a very popular class that meets daily for 47-minute sessions, with practically no sitting and waiting.

"They're active 99 percent of the time," he said.

An elective course, Reynolds' aerobic activities class doesn't reach all 600 students who attend Douglas Middle School. But he's encouraged by those boys and girls who may be struggling with weight issues who do make it a priority to sign up for the class.

"They're not active and they don't care to be; and in the beginning, it's a struggle for them," he said.

But at the end of semester, they are leagues ahead of their contemporaries because they've built strength, endurance and have even learned to enjoy the games and practices.

"They're achieving goals throughout the semester and are pretty successful at the end of the 18 weeks," he said.

In his 24 years of teaching, Reynolds has worked hard to keep his classes exhilarating and fun, but has seen an increase in the number of overweight students.

"We do have obese kids who are not in any P.E. classes at all because of scheduling. It's not a requirement at Douglas for them anymore," he said.

South Park Elementary School in Belle Fourche has an obesity rate that is more than 2 percent below the state average. Theresa Adel, the school's physical education teacher, says that there are a number of reasons for that achievement.

"We still have three recesses a day and the students also have the two (weekly) P.E. classes," she said.

Children also are willing to participate and try to do all of the activities.

"In those P.E. classes, I try to make it as active as possible."

This week, the students are working out in a jump rope unit. Starting with a short basic jump rope, they will eventually go to the long jump ropes. In her 30-minute classes, at least 20 minutes are spent actively moving.

"You try to make it as fun as you can," Adel said of her classes.

Adel also sends home a newsletter at the first of each month describing what's happening in class with suggested activities of what families can do as an extension of the class at home. The newsletter also has a recipe corner with healthful snacks that the kids can make at home and with an adult. Staying active and healthy is a battle because it's so much easier to be inactive, she said.

"I believe between the sedentary activities of computers and watching television and the fast foods, it makes it harder for children to make that choice (of being active,)" Adel said.

Biskeborn said schools currently are collecting information for the 2007-2008 study, with data due by June 15.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com.