This is part one in a series that examines what schools and families near Fox Hills are doing to battle childhood obesity. This week we are taking a closer look at the schools' physical education programs, and in the coming days we will be examining nutrition initiatives and what's being done for students who are struggling with obesity.

Coach Tom Salter pushed the equipment cart filled with basketballs, tennis rackets and baseball gloves to his office at Culver Park Continuation School. He just finished his one-hour daily physical education class where close to 23 students dressed in jeans, T-shirts—and some with Ugg boots and purses—played basketball and talked with friends.

"I don't really think obesity is a big deal for us here," said Gaby Gonzalez, a student at Culver Park, who decided not to join the basketball game that day.

Salter, who has coached at Culver City schools for more than 12 years, disagreed. "The kids eat fast foods a lot more, and I see more with asthma than I did 10 years ago. All that makes it tough for them to exercise," he said.

Right after class concludes at 9 a.m., Salter heads to Culver City High School to teach another P.E. class. There they have five classes and a personal trainer on staff, and unlike the continuation school, the students wear gym uniforms.

Culver City schools require all elementary, middle and high school students to take physical education. The school board voted five years ago to make physical education requirements more stringent by administering a fitness test for students entering freshman year that they must pass by the end of their sophomore year. If students do not pass the test, their physical education requirement—usually just two years in high school—would be extended.

"There used to not be repercussions for not passing," Salter explained.

Brittany Gomez, a senior at the high school said she passed the fitness test with flying colors. As a cheerleader during her freshman year, she was exempt from taking a P.E. class, though it is now mandatory.

"I think it's because of the weight problem that everyone has to take P.E., but there's no obesity at this school," said Gomez, who boasts that she ranked second in her freshman fitness class for push-ups. "We're pretty well-balanced. If anything, there was one obese kid, but he already graduated."

Gomez may not see the problem, but it's there. The obesity epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats facing Los Angeles County, with 23 percent of all 5th grade through 9th graders qualifying as obese, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

Culver City has a slightly lower rate at 18.5 percent.

That means nearly one in five 5th to 9th graders in Culver City—and most likely a similar number of older students—suffer from obesity.  "Obese children tend to become obese adults, which has a whole host of problems," said Margaret Shih, chief of the epidemiology unit in L.A. County.

The health risks of childhood obesity include asthma, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, sleep apnea, orthopedic problems, depression, low self-esteem, social stigmatization and a negative body image.

While Gonzalez and Gomez don't think there is an obesity issue in their neighborhood, Dianna Castro, who has been working as school nurse for nine years at several Culver City schools, including El Marino Language School in the Fox Hills area, says she has seen it firsthand. During her first year in the district, she had a kindergartner who weighed more than she did.

"What kids do as kids, they do as adults," Castro said. "We need to get kids to be more active as teens, and in elementary and high school, so that they are more likely to be active as adults."

Castro added that obesity statistics tend to be consistent across age ranges, meaning that the figure of nearly one in five would apply to high school as well as younger students.  

So are the P.E. classes enough? While standards have become more strict about passing P.E., the actual amount of P.E. required has declined in high schools to make room for other classes more geared towards college admittance. Now high school students are required to take P.E. twice a week, and for only their freshman and sophomore years.

"I don't know why, in this day and age with so much obesity, they would cut the high school P.E. requirements," Castro said. "Children can elect to take P.E., but I don't think that's happening, especially not the obese kids."

 For more stories from our square mile, visit us at onesquaremile.uscannenberg.org.